


Much Ado About a Cube

by kukunamuniu (Hekseri)



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Canon Compliant, Frostiron Reverse Bang 2017, IN SPACE!, M/M, Not Another Mystery Cube We Have Like A Million, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-04
Updated: 2017-04-04
Packaged: 2018-10-14 22:16:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 32,332
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10545246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hekseri/pseuds/kukunamuniu
Summary: When Tony receives an old Scandinavian ceremonial box for his 26th birthday he thinks nothing of it, taking it for just another collectible item. Little does he know it used to belong to his future adversary - Loki.Losing his favourite music box is not an event Loki deems worth mulling over; even if it is followed by a series of unusual dreams in which he meets a man who has yet to be born, sometime in the faraway future.Brought closer, they discover their shared connection is not the end to the strangeness...





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> To Rymyanna, with thanks for the inspiration, advice, and hours spent on helping with this fic. I'm glad we got to work together on this, I would have never managed to finish it without your art keeping me inspired.  
>  And with special thanks to my dear friend Ewelina who bravely suffers through my nonsense.  
>  Please don't eat me. I did my best. Hope you'll enjoy.  
>  Check out the amazing art on tumblr and the artist, too.

 

There was once a planet called Nidavellir. And even though most would call it gloomy and bleak, to its dwellers it was the best possible place in all Nine Realms. The Dwarves of Nidavellir were the finest craftsmen you could find anywhere in the whole wide universe. The Mighty Mjolnir, The Casket of Ancient Winters, The Destroyer - any item coming from the Nidavellirian forges was a credit to their name.

Sadly, not all respected and appreciated the Dwarves of Nidavellir. A young king who saw himself a conqueror and lord of all the Realms of Yggdrasil, attacked them. The Dwarves fought bravely but lost and Nidavellir fell under Asgard’s rule. The Allfather’s army plundered the cities, towns, temples, and forgeries. They took anything they wished; everything of value was shipped off-world when the Asgardian King left with his troops **.** The Dwarves were finally left alone to gather what remained of their magnificent cities and start anew.

But thousands of years of careful construction could not be redone in a matter of decades. Little remained of what used to be the most excellent civilization of the Nine Realms. Its people became simple merchants, little more than ordinary blacksmiths. The creations of their ancestors carried on, passing from hand to hand. Some of them were kept in the spotlight for all to admire their greatness; some were unappreciated, their true meaning and potential unknown to those who owned them. Passing from one collector to another, they waited for someone to finally discover their hidden purpose and return them home where they belonged.


	2. Chapter I

It was a beautiful bright day, the weather was as pleasant as it could possibly be and Loki hadn’t a care in the world. All around him, people were rushing, yelling, fighting, laughing. He walked from stall to stall, picking up this and that, giving some things a little shake or a sniff, and some immediately putting back. immediately putting some back

He was examining an old rusty Nidavellirian sword when he noticed it. A dusty maroon cube, with one side burnt and a piece sticking out of it with a pointy end. After laying down the sword he picked up the cube, brushed the dust off and turned it around in his hands. It appeared not to have any lid or opening. He gave it a shake but nothing happened; disappointed, he was already setting it down among other items strewn carelessly on a table when a voice behind him said, “This is not how you make it work, Your Royal Highness.”

Loki turned towards the merchant. “What is it then?”

“Ahhh. That is a truly remarkable item, sir. Worth every coin spent. It’s made out of special dwarvish metal called Jakwih, a magical alloy, you see. Very, very expensive. That is indeed a one of a kind item, Your Highness.”

With his interest piqued, Loki turned the object in his hands. He had never heard of such an alloy, but he didn’t know much about blacksmithing nor metallurgy. It must have been unique, just like the merchant said.

“Yes, well, that’s very good but what does it do?”

“If I may?” Loki handed him the cube and observed closely as the man put his hands around the item and drew his face up in concentration. “Your Royal Highness, prepare to be astonished.”

Loki raised his eyebrows skeptically at these words. Naturally, he was quite curious about the object but it couldn’t possibly be anything astonishing.

Suddenly, right above the case a fathom of a Vanir woman appeared. She was dancing goofily, singing at the top of her lungs a rather offensive song about three thieves who once kidnapped a troll king. But before she could sing more than few lines of the song Loki knew quite well, to the displeasure of his mother, the merchant dropped the case on the table and swore violently.

“Forgive me, sir. This is not what I was attempting to show you, but well… this silly old- “ the man coughed loudly, “this wondrous artefact has a knack for picking up what is foremost on your mind, you see. Ehem…”

“Let me try.”

Loki reached for the case and touched it without hesitation. An image of a group of people bathing in a lake appeared. He snatched back his hand in embarrassment, feeling his face redden. The merchant was trying to tactfully hide his smile.

“I’ve been told it takes some practice and then you’ll be able to project anything you like as long as you are touching it, sir.”

“I’ll take it.”

Satisfied with his purchase, he swung the bag with that held it across his shoulder and went to find Thor. They promised to be back for the afternoon meal and the time was drawing closer.

“What have you got there?” asked Thor as soon as he spotted Loki approaching them.

Loki revealed his new possession proudly, thinking he would surely amaze all. Unfortunately, he was mistaken.

“Oh I know what it is. It’s that Nidavellirian mind reading cube. We used to have one but my mother let me trade it with Rollo for his old spade,” said Fandral in an unimpressed voice, “they’re not very useful, are they? You need to keep touching it, otherwise it won’t work; and well, that is just plain boring, sitting on your bottom looking at moving pictures for hours. No fun at all. Now, a good spade is a whole other thing.”

That revelation spoiled Loki’s mood, but though the item was nothing of significance, he kept it.

For the next few weeks, Loki dedicated himself to mastering the cube. It was not easy and required quite a lot of mental self-discipline but, to his great satisfaction, he had managed to teach himself how to project only the things he wished. From then on learning how to separate sound from visuals seemed like a natural progression. The way of mashing the two together, so he could project an image of Thor talking in Mother’s voice about the importance of etiquette, became his favourite pastime.

With the help of his magic, he learned how to use the cube without actually touching it. Preoccupied by this discovery, he ignored the feeling as if some part of him became stuck within its walls. What mattered was that he had made it work. After weeks of fiddling with it, the cube lost all its novelty; he moved on to other things and the item became nothing more than a peculiar music box.

 

*****

 

Loki was never blind to what was happening around him. In fact, he liked to think of himself as extraordinarily observant. Due to that particular skill, he was keenly aware of the atmosphere in the Asgardian court and its gradually growing tension.

After a feast during which Odin hardly spoke to anyone and Frigga kept trying to make up for that silence with doubled chattiness, Loki, instead of retiring to his room for the night, visited the servant quarters. There, he was told by his most trusted informants about a suspicion that had been spreading through the palace. There was a Nidavellirian spy among them.

Saying Loki felt anything but pure excitement at the news would be a lie. He had never seen a dwarf except on a picture he once found in a book. For days he kept wondering who the spy was and how they managed to hide their stocky, dwarfish appearance from everyone in the palace. He was convinced it was some kind of secret dwarfish technology no one had seen before. Determined to be the one to discover the spy, he spent days on a frantic search through the castle. Faced with Odin’s stern disapproval of his snooping, and with lack of progress, he abandoned the hunt.

One day as he was lying on his bed, with an open book on the magical methods of concealing oneself in front of him, he heard shouts right outside the door. Curious about the commotion, he shut the book and sat up on the bed. He was about to stand up and make his way to the door when someone stormed in right through it.

Astonished by this abrupt entrance Loki froze in shock and stared at the intruder. It was a stoutly built woman with the most beautiful braid of dark hair he had ever seen. She was wearing armour that glittered in the sunshine streaming through the windows. Absentmindedly, Loki wondered what it was made of, and if it was just as soft to the touch as it appeared to be.

The woman strode across his room towards the windows without pausing. Suddenly, she stopped and stared at the Nidavellirian cube Loki had bought years ago on a whim. The dwarrowdam snarled and snatched it off the table.

Such insolence woke him from his astonished stupor. He sprung to his feet and grabbed the case in an effort to yank it out of her hands. He was not going to let some lowly creature take whatever she wanted from his quarters.

They struggled with each other, filling the room with the sound of frustrated grunts and anger-fuelled breaths. Loki fell to the ground after receiving a particularly painful kick in the knee. His hand on the cube slipped, and the little piece that had always been sticking out of alignment sliced open the palm of his hand. He gasped in pained surprise. For some reason, this only made the intruder more furious. She used Loki’s distraction to yank the cube from his hands and tucked it under her arm.

“Guards! Guards! Over here!” he screamed.

The guards burst into the room but it was  too late; the woman sprinted towards the open window, jumping out of it without hesitation. As for Loki, he was left standing in the middle of the room with blood trickling down his fingers and a dumbfounded look on his face.

For the rest of the day he could not shake a strange feeling that he was being pulled in some unknown direction. Even the message of the spy’s capture did nothing to stop it. He had nodded and asked about the cube, but the pursuers had found no case in her possession. All her belongings were burnt right where they caught her – on Midgard.

The night after this confusing event was the first night he had dreamt of standing among the branches of Yggdrasil.

He dreamt of a young man, not much older than himself. The man was rather short, small even, dressed only in a pair of undergarments in a ghastly colour. He was the most unusual person Loki had ever seen. Even his hair was nothing like the hairstyles popular on Asgard; it was short and spiky, there was something glittering in it when he moved his head. In fact, the man’s whole skin was slightly glittering in places. Loki was quite sure it was not somebody he had met before. He would have remembered such a strange person.

It appeared the man was also in a state of heavy intoxication. He was barely keeping his balance and kept swaying this way and that.

They were both standing on an enormous branch of a glowing tree. It didn’t take long before Loki understood what it must be. Yggdrasil. There was no other possible answer. They were standing on one of the branches of the World’s Tree. And it was a miracle the man hadn’t fallen off it .

He ignored the man’s mumblings and touched the branch under him gingerly. It felt… remarkable. The surface was rough, just like a typical tree’s, but there was an energy current under the bark. It made him feel as if he were a seashell swept away by a tidal wave, a powerless subject to an unstoppable force.

“Woah!” exclaimed the stranger and then chuckled. “That is one hell of a trip.”

Loki snatched his hand away from the branch and eyed the man curiously. He was sitting astride the branch and kept moving his hands up and down it with a blissful look on his face.

“Who are you?”

The man’s head snapped up. “Oh. You’re still here. Should I remember you? I don’t remember you,” the man frowned. “Did I make you up? Please tell me I didn’t create a disturbingly lanky guy to accompany me on my birthday acid trip.”

Loki was at a loss for words. He hardly understood what the odd man was saying. An acid trip? And he wasn’t lanky. He was perfectly well built.

“I am real.”

“Are you sure? You don’t look so sure.”

The man stretched, almost falling off the branch in the process. He steadied himself and grinned smugly at Loki. What did he expect? An applause?

“Of course I am real, you cretin.”

“Please don’t tell me things you _think_ I want to hear. You’re a figment of my imagination, the least you could do is be straight with me. Did I or did I not make you up?”

Loki was quite… perplexed. For the lack of any better idea he walked towards the man.

“Woah!” the stranger exclaimed again. He seemed to enjoy doing that. “Could you be taller? How did this happen? You’re a walking tree. What’s your mother’s secret? Is it niacin? Eat lots of tuna? Sesame seeds?”

Loki enjoyed his obvious superiority when it came to height far too much to mirror the man and sit down. Instead he towered over him and waited until he had talked his fill.

“What is it? Did you exceed your talking quota for the day? Is that it? Because if so I gotta tell you buddy, you didn’t have much to begin with. Hey. Is that a smile? Are you smiling at me? It’s kinda hard to tell from this angle. I would stand up but…” the man looked to the abyss below them and sucked in air through his teeth. “That’s a hell of a distance to fall and, don’t get me wrong, but you don’t seem like the kind of guy who would jump to my rescue.”

The man groaned in annoyance. “Will you come down from up there?!”

Loki squatted in front of him, smiling against his better judgement.

“Well thank you.”

Loki smiled even wider and the man responded in kind.

“Who are you?” Loki asked.

“Ummm… Tony. And you should know that. You’re,” he knuckled his forehead, “in my head, remember?”

“I do not think I am.”

“You don’t?” Loki shook his head, smiling wryly at him. “Then where are you?”

“I believe I’m standing on the World’s Tree.”

“My friend, you are not making any sense.”

Loki chuckled and said, “I could say the same about you.”

“I’m glad we established that. Would you help me up? I want to get a feel of this place.”

Loki straightened himself and pulled Tony to his feet. As soon as he let go of his hand, Tony turned around and started walking towards the faraway end of the branch. He barely managed to take a dozen steps before he slipped and started falling into the abyss.

In that moment Loki became painfully aware of the fact that he was unable to call on his magic. There was nothing in where there should be an immense power waiting for his call. He was utterly powerless. But he never saw Tony reach the ground. Before he could hit whatever lay under the Yggdrasil, everything was swallowed by darkness and Loki woke back in his bed.

His heart was pounding inside his chest; he felt light-headed and weightless. Slowly, he opened his eyes. The sunshine was streaming through the curtains. The servants had left his breakfast on the table and filled his tub with hot water.

It was morning, he was in Asgard, and he was alone.

The strange dream haunted his thoughts all day. He feigned a headache to avoid his responsibilities and shut himself in the library. He found very little about Midgard in its books, only a brief description of its people. Fearful and lowly, they believed Asgardians to be gods. They were a primitive civilization that was doubtlessly incapable of dying their garments any kind of bright colour.

Unsatisfied with his findings, Loki turned in for the night quite early.

And once again he found himself standing on a Yggdrasil branch with Tony sitting across from him. Unfortunately, this time they didn’t get anywhere past expressing their shared surprise at meeting again before Tony faded away.

Loki dreamt about the strange man two more times and after hundreds of years all memory of the mysterious human slipped his mind.


	3. Chapter II

It was a Wednesday, 29 May 1996 and Tony was having a really good time. He had been hoping it would be a little bit colder here, maybe even snowy. But apparently even in Norway there were warm months (who would have thought?!) and May happened to be one of them. But hey! There was nothing a good party couldn’t fix. Throw in a couple of beautiful people and there you go, a recipe for a successful birthday. And where there’s a birthday party there needs to be presents.

Tony sipped from his drink and patiently waited for his friend to finally stop making small talk and get his ass to the couch. He was bored and Markus happened to be the next best thing after Rhodey. He was just as polite too. It was possible he was missing his friend a little bit. Just a little. Fuck the army. Tony downed the rest of the drink in one go and snatched another from a nearby tray.

“Come on! How long does the birthday boy need to wait for his present?! It’s my party for Christ’s sake! You’re supposed to ignore other people!”

“I’m coming, I’m coming, relax Tony.”

Markus dropped onto the seat beside him, putting a carefully wrapped box on the coffee table as he went. Tony’s vision was swimming so he didn’t make a move to unwrap it himself. “What is it? Aren’t you rich? I expected something bigger.”

Markus chuckled and started tearing the wrapping away. “It’s something from my personal collection.”

“Uuuu…. Is it a sex toy? Are you giving me a used sex toy? I’ll admit, it’s a very thoughtful and intimate gift.”

When the last bit of paper fell away it uncovered a maroon cube the size of a medium stereo speaker. It was made out of angular elements pieced tightly together like the world’s most precise puzzle, all the pieces in the right place except one that was sticking out with a pointy end.

“Aaaaand what is it? A paper weight?”

“No one actually knows,” Markus admitted and Tony snorted into his drink. “Even the scientists examining it were unsure about what it is made of, but a local archaeology professor told me there’s a story tied to that box.

In this thing there are the trapped souls of all the people who somehow crossed the witch Angrboda. It is said that sometimes you can hear them sing. It was left on Earth after a fight between her and the Mighty Thor. During that fight the box fell down a precipice. The witch left it there so she could make her escape and never came back for it.”

“What am I supposed to do with it? Does it do anything?”

“Other than store souls? I don’t think so.”

Tony clapped Markus on the shoulder. “You, my friend, are crap at gift giving. But I’ll forgive you if you help me stand up and get to the hot tub.”

The party wound down a few hours later and he would have forgotten all about the cube had he not stumbled and fallen right next to the coffee table it was sitting on. He hissed in pain as something sharp sliced open the skin on his forearm. Prodding the wound, he looked around for something to soak up all the blood coming from it, but his legs felt too heavy and his head felt too light so he stripped off his shirt and pressed it against the cut. It would have to do. He giggled at the sight of his bright pink speedos and promptly fell asleep right there on the carpet between the coffee table and the couch.

Weird dreams of giant Vikings and glowing trees were not something he usually bothered to remember so the fuzziness of the first two dreams did not worry him in the slightest.

But the third time he had the dream he started getting annoyed with all this repetitiveness.

“Seriously, I would’ve preferred not dreaming at all. I can feel all that glowing behind my eyeballs. And you,” He pointed his finger at the giant figment of his imagination. “you are a little bit stare-y, my dear little made-up friend. It’s not helping.”

“I wasn’t aware I was to be helping you with anything.”

“Yes, well… we all learn new things every day.”

“Where do you come from, Tony?”

He looked at the apparition incredulously. “What kind of trick question is that? Am I subconsciously questioning everything about myself right now? I think I would have preferred a therapist instead of a made-up teenage Viking. But that’s just a preference so no offense.”

The phantasm drew up his eyebrows in confusion. Come to think of it, he was generally expressing a lot of emotion with those. Usually, Tony would find that annoying but the guy made it work.

“Teenage Viking?”

“That’s you, obviously. I’m in Norway, I just got some useless old Viking piece of crap; of course you are a Viking, what else would you be? I’m sure the teenage thing is just to confuse me, my mind isn’t always my best friend.”

“Will you ever believe I am real?”

Tony laughed and leaned forward to squeeze the phantasm’s outstretched leg. The Viking didn’t look too amused with this display of affection and it made Tony laugh even harder. Scoffing adorably, he changed his seating position so that he was now also straddling the branch.

Tony let himself take a long good look; in response, the made-up, tall as a lamppost Viking made a disgusted sound.

“Huh. That might actually be a proof that you are real. A figment of my imagination would have been way more friendlier.” The Viking remained silent and kept piercing Tony with a look that made the hairs at the back of his neck stand. “Will you quit with the staring?!”

The man completely ignored Tony’s polite request and spoke in a low voice instead, “You look like a human-“

“I AM a human!”

This dream was taking another weird turn.

“But you can’t be.”

He was never taking any acid from Markus again. Never.

“Are you sure you’re right in the head?”

The Viking moved closer, took Tony’s chin in his hand and peered into his eyes.

“How can you be one of the apes?”

Tony held back none of the indignation he felt at that statement; with a yell, he slapped the guy’s hand away and sprung to his feet.

“Apes?!”

The Viking made the most annoying and assholish surprised face Tony had ever seen (and that’s counting Howard’s mock astonishments).

“Who the hell do you think you are?!” He jabbed the man in the chest with his finger. “You know what? Don’t answer that. I’m done.”

Tony took a big step to the side and started falling. Just like the first time it happened, before he reached the bottom, darkness surrounded him and he woke abruptly in his bed. He shook his head in an attempt to chase away the dream but the glow of the tree was burnt behind his eyelids. He took a long swing out of the water bottle standing on his nightstand.

“Insulted by your own made-up dream Viking. Way to go, Tony. Your parents would be very proud,” he murmured to himself.

“Are you talking to me?” A blond head rose from the pillow on his left.

“Ummm, yeah. I was wondering if you were up for a round three.”

The next time he fell asleep and found himself sitting on a branch of the gigantic glowing tree, he didn’t even wait long enough for his eyes to adjust to the unnatural light. He shot the Viking what he hoped was a particularly nasty look and rolled off the branch without speaking. He was done with his ridiculous subconscious.

Thankfully, it was the last of the unsettling, confusing dreams. A few days later he packed his things and went back home, leaving behind the memory of the dreams and a bloodied, rusty metal cube.

Sixteen years later, during all that mess with Loki and the Chitauri, he found himself thinking about his 26th birthday and the time he dreamt about an asshole Viking. It was nothing worth worrying about, just one of those things, he thought to himself. And besides, as soon as Loki was off the planet that deja-vu feeling disappeared and with it any reason to think about that one time he found himself sitting on a glowing tree.


	4. Chapter III

He had never given any thought to life in imprisonment. Not the kind where one was locked in a cage, his usual contemplation revolved around the constraints of the life of a second son, of life in a shadow. Now he had all the time in the world to think about everything that had happened to him. About his time in the darkest depths of the universe, time with the Other, and his feeble attempt of conquering Midgard.

His mother thought he would be easily satisfied with piles of books and their little daily talks. Ha. As if any amount of trinkets and silly entertainments would mollify him. What did she expect? That he would rot here for many long years and after reading enough books finally repent? Was that it? Well, then, she would have to wait much much longer.

And yet… he had to admit - her visits, her gifts, were the only things alleviating the boredom. There were only so many things he could do to occupy his time.

Recently, he had taken on exploring the depths of his battered psyche. After he had examined all the decisions that lead him right here, into this cell, after he had packed all those memories into tiny little boxes, he found himself faced with quite a puzzle.

A part of him was… missing. He tried to recall when he had lost it but there was nothing, no recollection of the moment when he had misplaced a tiny bit of himself. Disturbed by the discovery, he was convinced it was something he had lost while being in the loving care of the Other. But no, it was not one of the things that were…. Misplaced in his mind during that time.

He searched for the answer: meditated, retraced his steps, strengthened all connections within his mind, revisited long forgotten mind paths; he even, with great difficulty, left his physical form and looked for answers in the Astral Plane. He almost teared down his psyche with intention to build it anew before he finally found it - his missing piece. And what a trivial, insignificantly small part it was. No wonder he had never noticed its absence. Just a speck, a drop in the vast sea of his power left behind in a cube hundreds of years ago.

Loki smiled crookedly to himself when he finally sensed where his missing piece of self was. Midgard. But of course it had to be Thor’s wretched pet realm. Everything had to be somehow connected to it.

The cube, that silly trinket which had been stolen from him by a Nidavellirian spy, held within it a piece of himself. A little bit of magic left there by an inexperienced, foolish boy.

He remembered the day the dwarrowdam stormed into his room and jumped out of a window with the cube under her arm. The confusing couple of days right after… but why would they- the dreams. He had strange dreams right after that woman stole the cube. He had dreamt of Yggdrasil, dreamt of-

Loki’s eyes snapped open as he lost all balance and pulled out of his trance.

Stark.

Hundreds of years ago he dreamt of Tony Stark who hadn’t known Loki, who looked young, who should not have been alive at the time.

But why hadn’t he addressed it when they actually met? That day in the tower…

Or perhaps he had? Had he? No. If Stark had said anything about them meeting earlier then Loki would have surely noticed, he would have remembered. Wouldn’t he?

He groaned and tugged at his hair in frustration. Was he falling apart again?

He needed something to do, needed action, some kind of a goal. He couldn’t spend the rest of his life locked in a cage doing nothing.

Damn Odin. Loki hoped they all rot in Hel.

He paced from one side of his cell to the other, trying to make sense of all he could remember from his time on Earth. There wasn’t much. Perhaps Stark hadn’t remembered him either. He was certainly older than Loki had seen him in his dreams.

How could it be possible? How could five hundred years pass on Asgard but barely few on Midgard? Perhaps…. No. It was all real. There was a real piece of him kept in a dwarfish music box. It was a piece that was still pure, untainted by the Other, by the Mad Titan; it never looked into the darkest corners of the Universe.

Loki’s knees buckled under his weight.

Real.

When he was but a lad he dreamt of sitting on a branch of the World’s Tree and talking to a mortal man named Tony. Who called him a Viking. Who couldn’t have been alive at the time.

Oh!

Oh!

He gasped in sudden realization. He met Stark of the future. However the cube worked, it did not care about time.

Did it mean that if he managed to connect with it again he would speak with a future Stark? Or would it be the one of the present? He had already been born, after all.

But could Loki reconnect with the part of his psyche still stuck inside the cube? Could he do it from here? From his cell?

Well, there was nothing else for him to do but try.

So he tried.

Ignoring Frigga when she made her daily guilt-ridden visits, eating only when he could no longer focus because of the hunger, sleeping only when he could no longer keep his eyes open, he tried to reconnect with the lost part of his soul. He paced, meditated, and chanted, feeling the pathway between his consciousness and that wee bit of power strengthen day by day, and when it was finally ready, he laid down on his cot and let himself fall asleep.

It was odd. Being back in this empty realm made him feel young and vulnerable. He had thought he was ready for entering this hollow realm, but he had trouble getting used to the emptiness he felt in the place where all his magical power should be waiting readily. He wanted to take a moment to touch the branch beneath him and experience that sweeping feeling again, but he was already feeling thrown off-balance and terribly shaken. Instead, he focused on Stark who, in a surprisingly short time, managed to get his bearing and was now striding towards Loki with a furious look on his face.

“You.”

 “Me,” admitted Loki for the lack of anything better to say.

 Stark’s face underwent a quick change; suddenly, he looked… baffled.

“Is this a weird dream?” Loki couldn’t help but smirk at this, but the smile quickly vanished and a cold, unsettling feeling gripped his insides as he heard Stark’s next words. “You’re dead. And I’m dreaming about you. Are you a ghost? Tell the truth, did you come to haunt me for the rest of my miserable life? Is that it? Cause pal, I gotta tell you.” Stark poked him in the chest with a surprising amount of strength. “Not the best plan. ”

Loki was so wholly unprepared and, frankly, terrified at that announcement that it took him a while before he managed to school his expression. But it was already too late. He saw the realisation on Stark’s face. Stark knew this was not something Loki had been expecting. Schooling his expression took Stark a lot less time than it did Loki. In a moment, his face underwent abrupt change, it was as if no words of significance had been spoken.

“Yup. You’re already dead. The avengers are coming after you as soon as you leave your cell. So better sit tight, yeah?”

Oh, so that was how Stark wanted to deal with it. Avoidance. Very well.

“Of course. I wouldn’t dare challenge your mighty team again.”

“We beat you and your army last time, so you might want to lose that tone, all right? Because out of the two of us which one is a) tightly locked in cell right now and b) a sore loser? It’s certainly not me.”

“I was under the impression I was a figment of your imagination; your phantasm Viking.”

Stark narrowed his eyes. “What did you say?”

Wrong. He must not let Stark remember they had met like this before. The longer he was willing to accept this as an eccentric dream, the larger the chance Loki would have to discover what had happened to him; what was going to happen to him.

“That I was a dream.”

“See, now I don’t believe you. Frankly, I do not and will never believe a word you say. Even when you’re made up.”

“Your lack of trust wounds me, Mr Stark.”

Stark scanned Loki’s face, after coming to some conclusion he turned around and started pacing. He seemed unconcerned with the abyss waiting for him if he so much as slipped. Did he remember, Loki wondered, did he remember how it felt to fall down into this darkness?

“Is there something bothering you, Mr Stark?”

The man turned abruptly towards Loki. “I- do-“ He bit the knuckles of his fist and sighed audibly. “This happened before hasn’t it? This is real and it happened. It happened even before the Tesseract. Before New Mexico.”

Norns curse it. He knew. Loki took a steadying breath.

Oh well, no point in pretending now. Stark was not a complete fool. If he remembered then he remembered and wouldn’t be persuaded otherwise.

“I’d been wondering if you remembered me.”

“Why are you doing this?”

“It is not of my doing.”

“Oh isn’t it? Okay. Where are we?”

“Would you believe me if I told you I had no idea?”

“No,” Stark scoffed.

“Then why ask?”

“Just making conversation. Being polite, you know. It’s what us earthlings do.”

“Then I’m sorry I hadn’t had the pleasure of enjoying that part of the human nature when I was on Midgard.”

Stark did his best impression of outrage. “I offered you a drink.”

“And then you sicced Banner on me.”

“You did deserve it.”

Loki pretended to think it over for a moment. “Hmmm. Touché.”

“Is that it? You’re just going to agree with me?”

Stark seemed more unsatisfied than surprised by this. Was he hoping to get into an argument with Loki? Why? He would surely lose, no matter which one of them was in the right.

“Yes.”

“This is unlike you.”

“Because you know me so well, Stark.”

The man huffed and started pacing again. Loki let him gather his thoughts in peace; there were better things he could do with his time. He touched the bark of Yggdrasil with his fingers and soaked up the feeling of weightlessness he hadn’t known he missed. When he finally opened his eyes Stark was still pacing and murmuring to himself.

“Any theories?” Loki asked.

Stark raised his finger and made a shushing noise. Loki blinked in bafflement. He... it had been a long time since anybody did that to him. A friend, a long time ago… he had been constantly interrupting her reading. She was always so annoyed with him. Loki shook his head in an effort to chase the memories away, this place was making it difficult to separate oneself from one’s thoughts.

“What is it? Are you hearing voices? Is that what is wrong with you? Thor did say you were crazy.”

Loki gritted his teeth. “Is that what he told you about me? I’m insane?”

“Why else would you attack Earth?”

“I had my reasons.”

Emptiness. A different kind to the one they were experiencing now; more menacing, dangerous, and malicious. It was hollowing. It devoured you, your thoughts and feelings were its sustenance. And when it was done with you, when there was nothing left of you, a comforting hand would appear. It would piece you back together, but not exactly the way you used to be. There would be…. changes - some small, some more significant. To purge them all away one had to tear everything down and rebuild one’s self from scratch.

“Oh? And what were they?”

“None of your concern.”

“Everything that makes you invade my planet IS my concern, pal.”

Loki laughed. If only he knew.

“So. What is all this?” Stark waved his hand around looking displeased with their situation.

“I’ve already told you: I do not know.”

“Sure. How is the cube connected?”

“The cube?”

“Don’t insult me.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Hmmm. You don’t? Then I guess we’re done for today.”

The unconcerned manner in which Stark stepped to the side and dropped down into the abyss without a sound had taken Loki by surprise. There was nothing in this world nor any other that would persuade him to ever do the same.

To his great surprise, this time he woke slowly. First, he heard the sounds: guards talking somewhere behind his head, the other prisoners snoring and speaking in low voices at the back of the cell block. He opened his eyes. It was strange, waking up again in his cell, looking at its white ceiling, the buzz of the forcefield walls all round him. Just a moment ago he was standing on one of the Yggdrasil’s branches, talking to a man who seemed to know something about his future. About his fate. Which was to die.

He wondered how it would happen, was Odin going to change his mind and let the axe swing? Was he waiting for Loki to show repentance? Had he given Loki limited time to show remorse and cower at Allfather’s feet? Was Loki running out of time it?

Loki laughed hollowly and rolled out of bed. He was going to die. According to some, he should have done that a long time ago. Little loss. One life. Life of a frost giant. Maybe it was all right... Loki laughed again. It really wasn’t. No. He had survived so much... Be it Odin’s axe or Thanos’ merciless grip he would not sit idly and wait for death to come. But what was he to do? Was there any way he could save himself from that fate?

He walked towards the barrier separating him from the free world and called out, “Guard? I have trouble sleeping, have someone add betlanyum to my next meal, please.”

 

*****

 

He fell asleep soon after taking the betlanyum. His dreams were strange and muddled, but there was no trace of Stark nor Yggdrasil in them. He woke up sore, groggy and disappointed. Loki came to the conclusion that either it was a one-time event or taking betlanyum blocked the connection.

He leaned more towards the second option. His sense of self was definitely askew after taking it, no matter what the healers said about its harmlessness. It had to be betlanyum. That meant the only way to have that dream again would be to wait until sleep claimed him naturally.

To spend all his energy in the quickest possible way, he cast an illusion on the cell walls and started practicing his fighting skills, something he hadn’t done in a while. He kicked, dodged, and blocked the hits of his conjured sparring partner (if he bore a strange resemblance to Thor there was no one else to witness it except Loki) until he could muster no more energy to do so. He cut short Frigga’s visit and ate everything that was brought to him for dinner as quickly as possible. Only a fool would underestimate the sedating power of overeating.

Finally, he fell asleep.

This time, both he and Stark took their time getting used to their surroundings. Loki had been hoping Stark would be angry or careless, or at least thoughtless enough to start raging at him the moment they saw one another. But no. Sitting astride a glowing branch few steps from him was a calm and collected man.

There was no trace of the surprise nor bafflement of their last meeting. This wasn’t the amusing mortal he had come to expect. This was the man Barton had warned him about, someone not to be underestimated. Loki found he quite liked this change in Stark’s bearing. He wondered what had caused it, was it him? Had Stark come to a conclusion this was a serious and dangerous situation?

It really wasn’t. To Loki it all felt quite ridiculous, but Stark was a human and they were known to have a strange sense of judgement. Loki did his best to fight back the urge to smile as he spoke, “Mr Stark.”

“Loki.”

“I take it you’ve seen my brother quite recently, how is he doing? I hope Midgard treats him well.”

Stark smiled lightly and shook his head slowly in disapproval.

“I have no idea how’s he doing. Last time I saw your brother he was taking you back to Asgard.”

“Oh, that must have been years ago!” Loki exclaimed in pretended astonishment.

Stark raised his eyebrows and clicked his tongue, looking at Loki skeptically. “Not that long. Prison’s making you feel that way. I’ve heard it’s fairly common, you know, hours feeling like days, days like months….”

“Of course. I must be mistaken.”

“Of course.”

They stared at one another, neither willing to break the tension. Until Stark couldn’t take it anymore. Humans.

“So how’s prison?”

“Terribly boring.”

“What? Don’t you get any books? Give me your address and I’ll send you some.”

Loki smiled at Stark’s bad jest and inclined his head, playing along. “Thank you for your most generous offer, Mr Stark.”

Stark smiled back. This was not going to be as easy as Loki had anticipated. Stark was no fool, and neither was he as reckless as he would have most believe.

“So what do we do now? Talk? Don’t get me wrong but this,” He waved his hand around. “is not how my dreams usually go.”

Loki hummed in agreement. Naturally, the man’s dreams were probably always full of naked beauties, not glowing trees and former adversaries.

“You could always offer to fix it,” Stark added.

To say that the remark took Loki by surprise would be an understatement. Stark had now become one of the few people to have seen an absolutely stunned Loki. The man himself also seemed shocked by his own words.

“Agghhh. I take that back. That was- so-“ He groaned in annoyance. “No. I never said that. You.” He pointed a finger right at Loki’s face. “Never heard that.”

“It will be hard to forget.”

“Then try harder.”

Loki smirked. It made Stark start massaging his temples; his whole posture underwent a rapid change, as if in the time it took Loki to blink another man exchanged places with Stark, this one looked worn out and mournful. Just for a moment, a layer of his mask peeled off.

It seemed like a perfect opportunity to Loki.

“How about I do my best to forget and you tell me a little about your perfect life on Earth, then? Nothing of significance, I really am terribly bored.”

“My life-“ Stark snapped his mouth shut and glared at Loki reproachfully. In a flash, the weary man was gone. “How about you tell me about the cube and what you’re trying to do here.”

Loki cursed in his thoughts. He did hope Stark would be weak enough to start talking and reveal some crucial information by accident. He stood up and started walking back and forth along the tree branch as he was answering, “I have already told you this is not of my doing. Just as you, I am merely an unwilling participant.”

“If you say so. What is this place?”

“I believe we are among the infinite branches of the World’s Tree.”

Stark rasped his knuckles against the bark, mulling it over. “Of course we are. This makes absolute sense.”

“Don’t blame me for your kind’s inability to grasp basic truths of the universe.”

“Well now you’re just being mean.”

This whole nonsensical conversation amused Loki against his better judgement. It was actually difficult not to show just how much he was enjoying himself. Perhaps it was the solitude he had to endure in his waking hours.

“What is the cube?”

“It used to belong to me, then it was stolen by a spy.”

“A spy?”

“Yes.”

“I’m not getting anything more?”

“I thought it was a music box.”

Stark blinked in confusion. “A music- how is it a music box?”

“That’s something for you to figure out.”

Stark clicked his tongue again and frowned. “Alright. Anything else you’d like to tell me?”

“Leaving so soon?”

“Sorry darling, you were great but it’s time I moved on.”

Loki smirked in reply and watched as Stark hurled himself into the darkness below them. In that very moment he realized it was always Stark leaving first, never the other way round. Why did he cling to these meetings so much? Was he really that lonely? All that time talking only to a placating Frigga or dull guards. And now there was Stark, whose wit was so quick and amusing that Loki did not want their little nightly talks to end.

 

*****

 

The last few days had made his life in the cell a little more bearable. At last he had some distraction from the uniformity of his existence here. Even if it was just a simple mortal, it felt to Loki like he had been single-handedly rescued from the clutches of insanity.

During the day he was thinking over all the possible ways to save himself from dying; the problem was, he did not know how would it come to pass. Stark was very careful not to talk about anything that happened after their fight in New York.

Loki developed a routine that made him fall asleep quickly; right after receiving his evening meal he would exhaust himself by sparring with an illusion of Thor, and then stuff himself with food and wait until drowsiness overtook him.

He and Stark had grown so accustomed to meeting in their dreams that they no longer needed time to adjust themselves to the realm. Loki had also discovered they could influence the dreamscape in small ways; the branch underneath them was now four feet wide and the ones above them were thicker, providing some protection against the surrounding abyss.

Stark was sitting cross-legged across from him, tapping his fingers against a knee and gazing at something behind Loki. He hadn’t spoken since they appeared that night.

“Stark?”

The man snapped out of his stupor with a jerk.

“Sorry. It’s just… I had an idea about something. There’s this project I’m working on, it’s called BARF, it allows you to access your memories and play them out, you can change stuff if you want.... Kinda like our cube. Actually, it’s exactly like it, only without all the touching and the magic. I want to join them somehow. Or, I don’t know, do something. I need to get inside the cube and you won’t tell me how to do that, so...”

Loki huffed. How many times would he have to repeat himself?

“I do not know how, I’ve told you about the craftsmen of Nidavellir. I am no match to them and neither are you.”

“Bullshit. I don’t believe that.”

Loki chuckled, it was exactly what he suspected Stark would say. “That doesn’t surprise me.”

“I’m sorry, are you calling me predictable?”

“Aren’t you?”

Stark exclaimed in mock indignation, “I’ll have you know I’m the most unpredictable person you have ever met!”

“And you call me a liar.”

“Aren’t you?”

“You tell me.”

Stark made a thoughtful sound. “I wouldn’t know,”

“Pity.”

He looked at Stark challengingly, the man smiled wryly in response. As always when they had been looking at each other too long, Stark was first to avert his gaze and change the subject.

“I’m going back home tomorrow. There’s better equipment there, maybe I’ll detect something new. Monitor my brain while sleeping.”

That confused Loki, he had always assumed Stark was still in New York, living in his tall ugly tower. “Home? Where are you now?” Suddenly, Stark grew serious. “Come now. I’m locked in my cell in Asgard; there’s nothing I can do.”

That and one other reason they never spoke about.

“I am at my house in Norway. Taking a little vacation, recharging the batteries.”

Loki hummed in acknowledgement, too busy playing with his shirt sleeve to properly look at Stark. How long until the day he died? He glanced at the other man, Stark was eyeing him curiously. Should he try again?

“Don’t ask,” Stark’s tone was firm.

“I deserve to know.”

“You don’t.”

Something snapped inside Loki. He sprung to his feet and lifted Stark by the lapels of his shirt. “How dare you?! How dare you presume, you dirty little mortal, to have any say in the matters concerning me. This is my life, my future, my DEATH you’re talking about, you little worm. I deserve to know!” He was shaking the other man, doing his best to stop himself from killing him. It would only end the dream, and with it, his chances at finding out what was going to happen to him.

Stark seemed to be aware of that fact as well and was entirely unaffected by Loki’s display. In fact, he looked him calmly in the eyes and said, “One, no one gets to know their future, even you. Two, I don’t know any details, Thor didn’t offer any and we didn’t ask, seemed pretty heartbroken. It would be shitty of us to ask.”

“Is that supposed to make me feel better?”

“It’s the truth.”

Loki let go of Stark, quite enjoying the indignant yelp the man gave out when he hit the ground.

“I don’t believe you.”

“Pity. I get it, no one wants to die. It’s normal-“

“Stop talking.”

Loki turned and started walking away. He kept on climbing the Yggdrasil branches until the darkness finally found him and took him in its arms. He woke up in his cell and it was one day closer to the day he died. Would it be this day? The next one? Fear made his insides clench. Nobody wants to die.

He climbed out of bed and sat close to the barrier so he could observe the other prisoners. He quite enjoyed listening-in on the chatter of his fellow inmates; one could learn much from it, as well as distract himself from his miserable thoughts. For example, today they were going to get some new companions. There was a battle being fought that very moment, in Vanaheim. How nice of Odin to make sure he didn’t feel lonely in here.

The dream was only the beginning of a cursed day. First, he managed to push away the only person that still cared about him. Then, the new prisoners started causing some disturbance. Before anyone could react, they were all coming out of their cells. The barriers were going down one by one. He waited impatiently for the enormous Svartálfarian warrior to do away with the walls of Loki’s cell, but once again he was faced with disappointment. Left exactly where he was, he said the first thing that came into his mind, the worst possible thing that he could have said: You might want to take the stairs to the left.

Why? Why couldn’t it be Odin?! It was supposed to be him! She wasn’t the one he wanted dead! Not her.

Loki raged, screamed, and trashed his cell when Allfather refused him the right to attend the ceremony. But it did not make him feel better, it made him feel drained.

At some point, he fell asleep.

The moment he saw Stark he strode towards him and gripped him by the arms. The man looked shocked and exhausted. Defeated. But it didn’t matter. Not now.

“Why?!” Loki screamed in his face. “You should have told me they would kill her! It’s-“ He choked and felt the first tears run down his face. “It was supposed to be Odin. Not her! He was supposed to be the one to die.”

“Loki. Loki. Look at me. Who are you talking about? Who died?”

“My mother, you idiot. You knew. You knew and you didn’t-“

It was hard to breathe. It all seemed… so impossible. Mother could not be hurt by anyone. How was that possible? She was Mother. It was- she was supposed to be the one protecting them. She was Mother. Why hadn’t Thor protected her? Where was he when she needed him?!

“I didn’t. I didn’t know. I swear. Thor hasn’t told us.”

All his energy left him at once, he felt empty.

“Why should I believe you?”

“Why would I lie? It’s not like you can hurt me here.” Stark pushed him away and took a step back; he straightened his clothes and brushed off imaginary dust. “I’m sorry about your mum. It sucks. I know how that feels, trust me. I didn’t know it would happen. Thor doesn’t really talk about Asgard.”

To spare himself any more embarrassment Loki did something he had never done before and secretly dreaded - he took a step off Yggdrasil and fell into the abyss. It was different than the one that delivered him right into the Other’s awaiting arms, this one did not strip him bare of all his defences, it provided him with a shelter from reality. So he screamed himself hoarse and cried out all the tears he had left. When he woke up on the floor of his cell he felt calm and spent.

He raised his head when Thor’s steps came to a stop right in front of his cell. In that moment he understood what was going to happen. He would die soon. He accepted Thor’s proposal with the full understanding that he would die helping his foolish brother. How fitting.

He had the whole plan ready by the time they reached Svartalfheim. Fooling Thor was never hard, it was actually disappointingly easy. However, even in his weakened state, Odin posed a serious threat. Overpowering him was hard, but not impossible. Taken by surprise, weakened by old age, sorrow, and the recent fight, the Allfather lost the fight with his discarded son.

With Odin secreted away and forced into his sleep, and with Thor off gallivanting on Midgard, Loki was free to rule Asgard as he pleased.


	5. Chapter IV

It was the last-ditch attempt to fix things between them. So far it hadn’t been going  well. Shortly after their arrival at Tony’s house in Bergen, him and Pepper tried, really tried, to talk to one another. They thought they could try to ignore the world outside and all its problems. It didn’t work. The conversation always, ALWAYS, ended up on the Avengers. He couldn’t stop, he didn’t want to stop, she couldn’t live with someone whose day job was being a superhero.

They loved each other. They really did. So much. Making it work was hard, though. Too hard even. Maybe. It wasn’t their fault. It was nobody’s fault. Or maybe it was everybody’s and everything’s? Tony didn’t know and he didn’t care.

After twenty minutes of awkward and stilled conversation at breakfast, Tony decided to disappear for a little while and look through stuff that had accumulated in the house over the course of his many parties. Besides a mountain of useless crap he managed to find some pretty interesting things. Lots of photographs of him and Rhodey from the time they were living here for two weeks, because Rhodes had never been to Norway and that had been a good enough reason to come; a broken C5T9 engine, some unfinished sketches, and a cube that wouldn’t open. He looked for a keyhole, gave it a good shake, few taps on each of the sides. Nothing.

The real fun started when he had Friday scan the thing. Alloy composition: UNKNOWN. He tried to chip a sample of its surface but nothing would so much as scratch it, which was surprising because the cube looked pretty banged up. There was even this little piece, this one sharp bastard sticking out of the careful alignment of hundreds of pieces. At first, Tony had thought it was his way inside, but after taking a closer look, he discovered the “flaw” was completely intentional, it was supposed to be like this. But why? What was the purpose? What was this thing?

A thought that made his heart beat faster hit him. Here it was, right in front of him, a mystery alien box. Sooner or later he was going to find out what was inside it. It was only the matter of time.

He ran tests, even spoken to it. Nothing.

He was waiting for Friday to finish the radiation reading when he heard a knock on the doorframe.

“Are you going to bed, Tony? Please, I know- don’t stay up all night just to avoid me.”

He turned around in his chair to face Pepper. She looked defeated. It was his fault.

“I am not avoiding you.”

A lie.

“It sure looks like you are.”

Of course she knew; she was Pepper.

“I found a new project, look: I have a box!” He waved his hand in the direction of the alien object but Pepper did not look impressed. She looked tired. When did that happen? When did she stop being interested in his projects? She used to listen to him. They used to talk. “All we do is argue.”

“And it’s my fault?” she asked with sudden anger.

“No- no. It’s not what I’m saying, Pepper.”

“Then what are you saying?”

“I’m saying that… I’m sorry.”

She looked even sadder than before, speaking in a quiet, weak voice that was very much unlike her, “I’m sorry, too.”

Tony mustered a faint, humourless smile. They stood there looking at each other in silence for god knows how long. Tony kept asking himself, when did they change so much? Why did it all have to be over?  They deserved more time together, deserved to be happy together for a little longer. Funny, how life continued to fuck him over.

“Shall we go to bed?” he asked when he couldn’t stand the silence any longer.

Pepper nodded and they went to their bedroom, laid down next to each other, and fell asleep without speaking a word.

 

 

 

Tony woke up alone and didn’t move from the bed for another hour. It was the strangest dream he had ever had. Only it wasn’t a dream. It was the strangest not-dream he had ever had. And it had to have something to do with the cube. Was it Loki’s? Had he sent it here to control Tony, like he had done with Selvig?

He sprung out of bed, ran through the kitchen, waving off Pepper’s calls. He stormed into the workshop under the house and stopped in the circle on the ground that marked the best scanning area.

“Friday, full body scan. Look for anything unusual. The smallest, weirdest thing might be important.”

He waited. The beating of his heart was loud in his ears, cold sweat was rolling down his back. He kept thinking to himself - What would he do if it turned out Loki was taking control of him? Should he kill himself? Tell somebody? But who? Who would help him? Fury would have him killed or put in a cell. Pepper would panic. Rhodey wouldn’t have a clue what to do. Neither would Steve. Thor? But where the fuck was Thor?

“Scan completed. I’ve detected no anomalies. Only your blood sugar is low. May I suggest waffles for breakfast? Ms Potts has been asking for you.”

“I- eh. Yeah. Okay. Let’s eat some waffles. But keep an eye on me, okay? 24-hour surveillance. I do something out of character or dangerous, you contact Rhodey. He’ll figure out what to do. At least I hope he will.”

He jogged back up to the kitchen and sat down next to Pepper with a plate full of waffles.

“Is everything alright?”

“Yeah, yeah. Just had an idea, you know me.”

“You looked terrified, and I do know you.”

Tony studied her tired, sad face for a minute. He couldn’t put more burdens on her shoulders. Even Pepper had her limits.

“A nightmare gave me the idea.” He felt bad about lying to her. But there was no alternative.

“Oh.” There was a moment of strained silence before she continued, “I thought you didn’t have those anymore.”

“They’re less… frequent. They pop up now and again. I know how to deal with them now.”

That was  true, not that Pepper would know it it wasn’t. They hardly ever slept in the same bed these days. If he was honest with himself, he would have to admit he had stopped missing her when he laid down in an empty bed, but Tony was always brilliant at lying to everyone. Himself included.

“Pepper… do you…”

His voice faded as he decided he wasn’t going to raise the issue after all.

“What is it?”

“Nothing.”

He ate his waffles and she drank her coffee. He felt an itch to do something, but he had no idea if he wanted to do something about his possible possession or their relationship. Just _something._

“What are we doing, Tony?”

Oh Pepper. She always did have more guts than him.

“Eating breakfast?”

“You know what I mean.”

He put away his fork and leaned back in the chair, covering up the fact that he was frantically trying to figure out what to say to her.

“What do you want me to say? It’s all been said and here we are. I don’t know what to do or say to fix this.”

Pepper took a deep, shaky breath and released it with force. He knew what she was going to say before she spoke, “I think we need to take a break.”

“If that’s what you want.”

She sighed and stood up. So it was settled. No going back now.

“I’m sorry,” she said again. As if it were her fault. It wasn’t.

“Don’t be.”

“I’ll pack my things, then. Friday, could you get a cab for me, please?”

“I’ve already contacted the services. They will be here in forty minutes.”

“Thank you.”

Tony watched her leave the kitchen and stayed there until it was time to see her to the door. They hugged and exchanged bitter smiles. He didn’t watch her drive away.

He was all alone.

“Friday, how are my readings?”

“Everything’s as expected.”

He went to the workshop and sat down across from the cube. There was a prickling feeling at the back of his neck, but he ignored it.

“Friday, is there any record of how I got this thing?”

“According to the available records, this item has always been a part of this estate’s inventory.”

He picked it up and turned it in his hands. He remembered having a dream of standing on a giant glowing tree and talking to a really tall guy about complete nonsense. That had definitely happened. That guy was Loki.

Tony sighed. It didn’t make any sense. That Loki, the Loki from the previous dreams, hadn’t known him, they hadn’t met yet. But why then would he send the cube to control him in the first place? Maybe he was pretending not to know Tony. But it would mean time travel was a real possibility on Asgard. Damnit. Where was Thor when you needed him?

Tony almost forgot about another unexpected development - Loki was still alive. The look on his face when Tony said he was dead, it looked genuine. It was the kind of unexpected fearful realization that could not be faked. Even by Loki. It hadn’t happened for him, there was no other possibility. Was he from a parallel universe? Or was he from the past? And what should Tony do about it? Obviously, he wasn’t going to tell Loki anything, he already gave the guy a huge spoiler. Loki was far from stupid, the information he would get out of Tony could be dangerous in his hands. Even if for some reason he was willing to go with Tony’s hasty recovery, Loki knew now he was going to die. There was no way he would go down easily.

“Friday, ask around where we can get a CT and MRI of the brain.”

Better safe than sorry, as old man Jarvis said.

 

*****

 

He woke up on the couch, the house was absolutely silent, he was alone. Pepper’d left. He stared at the ceiling, refusing to think about anything, embracing the silence.

“Mr Stark? It is 4.09 am. Rhodey is calling you, do you want me to put him through?”

So much for a moment of peace and quiet.

“Yeah. And fire up the coffee machine.”

“Tony?” Rhodey’s tone was full of careful concern. God. They were getting old.

“I’m here. How are you?”

“How are YOU. I heard what happened.”

Tony took a deep breath to steel himself. “It was long-time coming.”

“Doesn’t make it easy.”

“Nothing would.”

There was a period of silence during which Tony started collecting fruit for a cocktail. He always liked starting a day with a cocktail. Even if the start of the day happened to be at 4.09 am.

“How are you holding up?”

“I honestly don’t know. It just happened and I’ve been keeping busy and- I don’t know.”

“If you need me….”

“Thanks. I’ll call you when I reach the stage of eating ice cream out of a tub, watching soap operas and weeping.”

“I’ll hold your hand.”

“You’ll have to do better than that.”

“You will get a comforting pat on the back every two hours.”

“See? Now we’re talking.”

Rhodey sighed and Tony knew they were back to being serious again.

“I can’t take any time off right now, but if you need to talk or something call me, all right? Or just get your ass back to the US and make it easier for both of us.”

“I’ll be back next week, I promise.”

“Alright, see you then.”

“Bye, Rhodes.”

He turned on the blender and forced his gaze away from the alien cube laying on the coffee table next to where he slept. First he was going to drink his cocktail, then he would drink his coffee. Alien hi-fis would just have to wait.

Who was he kidding, though? No it wouldn’t wait. Tony walked to the coffee table with a mug in both hands. He had what he needed: a cocktail, a coffee, and a piece of junk to fiddle with. It was time to start the show.

It took him embarrassingly long to figure out how the music side of the box worked. It was so simple, you only had to touch it and imagine the sounds you wanted to hear and here they were. It was a little bit impractical because as soon as you stopped touching it, the music also stopped. But oh well, everything had its downsides, it just wasn’t made for partying solo, you always needed a dj.

It really was pretty amazing. Anything you wanted, with perfectly clear sound, the volume, base - everything perfectly adjusted to your liking. And it glowed; a red light was seeping through the cracks whenever the cube was working, it even started pulsing with the rhythm the moment Tony had that idea.

After he was done playing with it for a while he took the cube downstairs to run some tests. His suspicions were confirmed, it radiated some heat and small amount of gamma rays. Nothing too dangerous.

Over the course of the next few days, he discovered it could also display images and emit smells. He also continued to meet Loki every night when he fell asleep. It was strange, talking to somebody from the past (or a parallel universe, Tony wasn’t crossing that one out just yet). Especially somebody that you knew was going to die soon.

But it did make some things easier. He wasn’t as scared of what would happen if he let his guard down as he would have been had Loki’s fate remained unknown to him. It also allowed him to accept Loki’s proposal, which was to answer each other questions, as long as they were harmless. An answer for an answer. The story of how Loki had come by the cube in exchange for the story about Tony’s time in captivity. The story of Nidavellir and its people for the one about the forming of SHIELD.

After a few nights, Tony came to a conclusion that shouldn’t have taken him by surprise but did anyway: Loki was lonely. He was locked away in a cell with only his mother visiting once a day. It made sense he would want to talk to somebody else, too. Sometimes, Loki questioned him about silly, unimportant things; he had asked about car engine assembly or the ways in which humans desperately tried to contact extraterrestrial civilizations.

And why was Tony talking to him? It wasn’t pity. No. Loki got what was coming to him. But he was an interesting guy, a good conversationalist, and frankly, he was going to die soon anyway so it was no harm done. That thought made Tony feel absolved as he answered questions and asked some in turn.

He was now familiar with the workings of the Asgardian court and its diplomatic ties to the neighbouring realms. He knew about the one time Thor decided he was going to drive a chariot pulled by enormous goats and about the disaster that came afterward. With a smile on his face, he listened to the story of how Loki snuck out of the palace and was found out two days later, when Thor tossed an apple at his head and it went straight through it, shattering the illusion.

He also learned a lot by observing. Loki was anxious. It was hard to spot unless you saw the way he relaxed when he was immersed in telling one of his stories. The difference was striking when you knew what to look for.

Tony suspected what got Loki so shaken was the threat of his impending death, but he never asked. It didn’t matter. They weren’t friends.

He wondered if he would miss their meetings when Loki died. Probably. Pity Loki had to be such a bastard. They could have been good friends. In another life.

The clock was ticking, their tête-a-têtes were getting longer and longer, and every day was one day closer to the convergence. At least for Loki it was. It was frustrating not to know what day it was for him, how long he had left; if this was the last time they would talk to one another.

 

*****

 

Rhodey sounded tired when he answered the phone. “You said you would come back this week.”

He had been calling Tony every other day for the past week. It had started to get on Tony’s nerves but he didn’t say anything. Every time there was something in Rhodey’s voice that made him keep answering the calls without complaint.

“I know, I’m sorry. I’m coming back in two days, okay? I have to, there’s a presentation I need to give at MIT. Can’t miss it. You’ll have me all to yourself in no time.”

“What are you doing there all on your own?”

“Enjoying the solitude.”

There was a sigh on the other side of the line. A very specific sigh. It was Rhodey’s sigh for ‘what I’m about to say makes me very very unhappy’.

“Tony are you…. Are you drinking again?”

Oh. Ohhhhhh. So that’s what had him so worried.

“Completely sober. Isn’t that right, Friday?”

“It is. Mr Stark hasn’t drank alcohol since June 2015.”

“See? Almost a year. Rhodey, don’t worry about me. I’m fine. I just really enjoy being away from everything right now.”

“I get it. Call me if you need me.”

“Will do.”

The call disconnected. He didn’t blame Rhodey for worrying, it wasn’t the first time he had quit drinking. Funny enough, he hadn’t even been thinking about it lately. That realization made him feel good about himself. Eleven months in, the rest of his life to go.

There was a noise, like a footstep, behind him. He turned around but there was nothing there.

“Friday, anything I should know about?”

“Nothing.”

He must have imagined it. Ignoring the paranoid thought, he checked if everything he needed was packed. He turned the cube in his hands before deciding not to pack it just yet. He would do that in the morning. Instead, he laid it on the bed and stretched next to it. Tomorrow, he would have to come back to reality. Reality where him and Pepper were no longer an item. What were they now? Friends? They had to be friends. It was him and Pepper. Of course they were. They were awkward-for-now friends who would get better in no time. Yes. Exactly.

But first he had to go back. It would be nice to see Rhodey and finally make him stop calling all the time. Tony put his hand gently on the box and let soothing music lull him into sleep where Loki was still alive, well, and waiting for him.

 

*****

 

It was during his flight back home that he received the message about Lagos. An hour later he got a call from Ross. In that moment his plans of a gradual transition back to his life were destroyed. Both the cube and his plans for developing BARF got pushed forward into the foreseeable future.

Ten minutes after landing he received a draft of the accords. He finished reading it a few seconds before walking up on the stage for his presentation, unsure what to do about the whole mess. After meeting Mrs Spencer he was one hundred percent convinced signing the accords was the way to go.

He stopped by a pharmacy on his way from the Avengers compound. He didn’t hesitate for a second as he swallowed down the sleeping pill. No Loki now. He needed a clear head to deal with this. The only way he could handle Steve going against him with the stakes so high was if there was no dead norse god occupying his dreams.

When it was all over, after he had received Steve’s letter and made sure Rhodey was getting the best care in the whole wide world, Tony let himself fall asleep naturally.

Being shouted at was not what he was expecting. To be honest, he was hoping for a little bit of sympathy, if one could expect that from Loki. It turned out he wasn’t the only one who needed a shoulder to cry on.

He was happy to see Loki walk away, though. If there was a time during which he would be capable of comforting somebody about losing their mother, it was certainly not this time. Not just after finding out what had happened to his own parents.

So he started taking the pills again. His head was not in the right place; Rhodey needed him and he was the priority. Not Loki. Fuck Loki. At least until Tony got his head right again. Maybe then, if Loki was still alive, they would pick up where they left off.


	6. Chapter V

At first it was strange, the silence of his dreams after nights filled with conversation. But it was not the time to be dreaming about his former adversary. He needed his thoughts to be clear; there was a lot at stake: the stability of Asgardian throne, his life if he was found out. There was no other way, he had to weaken his connection with the Nidavellirian cube to a state of almost non-existence.

Focusing all his efforts on becoming the king he had always known he could be, Loki did not have much time to do anything besides reestablishing Asgard’s position in the Nine Realms. He missed talking to someone about things of little significance. The Allfather had no friends, and Loki was no more.

There were times when he wasn’t entirely sure who he was; was he Loki the Trickster or was he Odin the Allfather? Even with Heimdall locked away in prison as punishment for his treason, Loki dared not take any chances,  maintaining his disguise in his every waking and sleeping moment. There was only one person to whom he could talk as himself, as Loki. A mortal man. A human who lived in Loki’s future.

The fact that Stark would know what was going to happen in Loki’s future was the only thing that had stopped him from restrengthening his connection to the cube. Knowledge of the future could be used as an advantage, but it would also bring with it torment Loki had no desire to suffer ever again. Those few nights they spent together, the nights during which they tiptoed around Loki’s fate, were almost unbearable. Having the upper hand was not worth the feeling of impending doom that had accompanied his every minute while he waited for the day of his death to come.

So he waited. He observed the goings on of Midgard and waited for the day Stark went to a place called Norway and then came back to New York. Until that time he visited Earth  every once in a while, out of simple curiosity, and to keep an eye on Stark. He was there when Stark discovered the cube could also emit smells, something Loki hadn’t known about. He sat cross-legged in a corner of the workshop and together they breathed in a delicate scent of flowery perfume that made Stark look heartbroken.

Because of his decision to keep watching Stark until he fell asleep in his home in New York, Loki learned about the sleeping pills. During one of their first meetings Loki had shared with him the discovery that he could not see Stark in his dreams if he had taken any kind of sleeping aid. He knew he was being deliberately avoided.

Soon enough he understood why Stark did not want him in his dreams. Loki watched as the Avengers split, the extent of their loyalty to one another made clear. The sight of the Earth’s protectors fighting amongst each other made him grin in spiteful glee. He was aware that despite the broken ties of friendship, they would put their differences aside the moment a real threat appeared. It was still satisfying to watch, and watch Loki did.

It took Stark a few more days after the showdown to stop taking the pills. That night Loki retired to his chambers early, as was the Allfathers new custom, and restored the connection with the cube. He lay in bed and anxiously waited for sleep to come. It didn’t come immediately; he tossed and turned, opened the windows and then closed them, had a sip of water, then another. He could not relax. Finally, when the first light of daybreak was seeping in through the windows, he fell asleep.

Coming back to this realm after over two years of absence felt freeing. Here he was Loki, no one else. It was like a cold breeze on an unbearably hot afternoon. He and Stark were sitting across from each other, as was their custom. Loki was painfully aware that for Stark only a few days had passed since they had last seen each other while for him it had been months. He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, relishing in the silence of the realm.

The other man seemed to sense something was amiss; Loki felt his suspicious gaze as if it were something tangible. 

“You’re different.”

Loki couldn’t help the smile that bloomed on his face. He had missed this.

“Am I?” he asked without opening his eyes.

“Definitely weirder than usual.”

Loki huffed in amusement.

“What? Suddenly everything’s all right?”

He opened his eyes and glared at Stark in hopes the man would just let it go so he could enjoy himself.

“According to what you’ve said, I am to die quite soon. What’s done is done. Don’t make me spend my last days mourning a woman who had been lying to me my whole life.”

“How long has it been for you since….”

“Not too long.”

Stark hummed and kept looking at him suspiciously. Truth be told, Loki couldn’t be bothered to care too much what Stark suspected or thought. He would discover the truth sooner or later, and when the time came Loki would deal with it. There really was no point in worrying. Especially now, when he finally had what he had been waiting for so long.

“So, I’ve discovered something that doesn’t add up in your story.”

“My story?”

“How you’re just a victim here, like me.”

“Oh really?”

“I have a theory. For this,” He waved his hand between them. “to happen I need to touch the cube at least once throughout the day. It’s not something I only have to do once. I had the dreams before, then there was nothing, and then I found it again and the dreams started anew. I don’t know how long its influence lasts, I guess we’ll see tomorrow, but what really interests me is how does that work in your case? I’ve had the cube for years, you’re not that far behind me, how come it still works for you?”

“The explanation is easy; as a child I accidentally trapped a bit of my magic inside it. In a way, I am always touching it.”

Stark frowned and made a dissatisfied sound. “You can’t just say magic and expect me to stop thinking. If you’re always touching it why do I talk to the past you? Am I really supposed to believe that?”

“Believe what you will.”

“You’re not even trying to be convincing!”

“I see no reason for it.”

“What if I tell Thor?”

“What do I care? I’m about to die soon enough.”

“I’m not so sure about that.”

Loki feigned surprise and said, “Is there something you’re not telling me?”

“I’m wondering the same thing about you,” Stark replied thoughtfully.

“Most people do.”

Stark smiled wryly and mused sarcastically, “I wonder why.”

A tense silence fell between them but Loki did not mind it. He was himself again, stripped of the glamour, free to say what he liked and act in his own manner.

“What are you smiling about?”

“I’m glad to see you.” Which was the truth, not that Stark would know. It was better that he didn’t.

“Ha.”

“What is it, Stark? Don’t you enjoy our conversations?”

The man avoided his gaze and focused on a point a little above Loki’s arm. It always annoyed Loki when he did that. For someone so frank, Stark tended to avoid everything that made him uncomfortable with great perseverance.

“So are you going to tell me what’s going on?”

“I thought you liked figuring things out by yourself. Where is your sense of adventure?”

“I got enough when you ‘visited’ New York.”

Loki’s mood soured, there were things he’d rather not think of, his failed invasion was one of them.

“Then I guess I should say you’re welcome.”

Stark glared.

“You know what? I’m not in the mood. Let’s do this some other time.”

And just like that Loki was awake again. Who would have thought Stark would be so touchy.

 

*****

 

Tony didn’t believe a word that bastard said. There was something obviously wrong. He was too different. Too peaceful. For god’s sake he literally screamed in Tony’s face few days ago.

Tony knew what he had to do. A long time ago he made sure to have a way of contacting all the people somehow involved with his fellow Avengers. Just in case.

“Friday, call Dr. Foster.”

Sitting in his bed and waiting for the call to connect, he wondered what he would do if he were right. Should he tell Thor? Anybody? It’d been two and a half years since the Convergence. Nothing bad had happened. Still, Loki was a criminal.

But what if they killed him? Well, he would have brought it on himself…. But could Tony live with that? With the fact that he made that happen? With the knowledge it was because of him Loki got executed?

“Hello?” Jane Foster’s voice was sleepy. Damn, he forgot to ask Friday what time it was for her.

“Oh, hi, Dr. Foster, we never had the pleasure. I’m Tony Stark.”

“Ummm. Hi....” She yawned audibly. “What is this about? Thor?”

“Not exactly. I’m sorry, is this the right time? I’d like you to tell me about what happened during the Convergence.”

“I published a paper about it, if you’d like me to answer your questions we could arrange something.”

“I already read your paper. Amazing work. Not my field, but I am not easy to impress. Really. Good work.”

“Thank you.”

“Yeah. What I want to know is something different. I want to know about Asgard. Asgard from a human's perspective. Tell me everything. The whole story.”

And she did.

 

*****

 

Tony had been walking around with his head in the clouds all day. It irritated everyone in the compound, it irritated Rhodey, it even irritated Tony himself. He tried to work on his pet project, which was developing BARF on the basis of the readings he got from the cube, but the work was going unbelievably slow. He was monitoring his brain activity on a daily basis, even slept with EEG electrodes glued to his head, but there was still so much he didn’t know. It was equal parts frustrating and intriguing.

The problem was he couldn’t focus on anything since his conversation with Jane Foster. It had barely been a day between Frigga’s and Loki’s deaths. A day. According to Jane, Loki didn’t fall asleep even for a second after they had broken him out of prison. So how come he and Tony had spoken twice since his mother’s death?

The answer was simple: Loki didn’t die.

But she saw him die.

They left the body on that planet. There was no physical proof.

There was only one way Tony could be sure; if he dreamt of him again it would mean the slippery bastard was still alive and at large.

That or Tony was a crazy idiot who liked to talk to an imaginary friend in his dreams.

Damn it. Fucking Loki.

“Tony?” Rhodey was looking at him curiously. “You know you’ve been standing here for five minutes with a cup of coffee halfway to your mouth, right?”

“Of course. It’s very good for your biceps. Look, now it’s time to change the hand.”

He made a show of taking a sip of coffee and switching the mug into his other hand.

“And now the weight is different. That’s not a good training technique,” Rhodey played along. And of course he would, he was Rhodey. No one knew Tony better than him.

“It’s alright, that hand is more jacked anyway, if you know what I mean.”

Rhodey sniggered and went on his way to wherever he was going. Tony watched him operate the wheelchair with ease and hated everything and everyone for a minute. Fuck everybody. They all thought they were one hundred percent right all the time. No one ever was. Tony was not going to be the responsible one this time. No. Fuck it.

“Hey!” he shouted after Rhodes.

“Yeah?”

“What always makes you fall asleep even if you don’t want to?”

“Umm. When it’s really warm in the room. Warm and stuffy. Five minutes in a room like that and my eyes start closing. Why?”

“Just thought I deserved a nap.”

 

*****

 

Tony was right. Of course he was. That cunning bastard. Tony was kind of impressed. But only a little. They were sitting on the tree again and Loki looked very much alive.

“How did you do it?”

“I closed my eyes, counted to ten and here I was,” he replied with an assholish smile.

“Funny. You know what I’m talking about.”

Loki did not look concerned. The cocky little shit. God. The worst part was that Tony thought it so entertaining he couldn’t be bothered to be really angry.

“What are you going to do about it?” Loki asked.

“I was hoping you would convince me somehow.”

What the hell was he doing? He should tell somebody Thor’s brother was still alive. It was just that…. he really didn’t want to.

“And how does one go about persuading the great Tony Stark?”

Nope. Not a good idea. Abort the mission. There were lines he did not cross. At least tried to. Loki was a criminal. He was already helping him by not telling anyone he was still alive.

“I- um. How about you answer my questions?”

Loki seemed to be thinking it through, not bothered by the sudden change in the tone of the conversation. “What kind of questions?”

“How you faked your death for example, some more detailed questions about Asgard, your magic. The cube. I won’t ask you to compromise yourself.”

Loki looked pleased with the answer. And when exactly did Tony get so good at reading him? He really shouldn’t be able to say anything about Loki’s moods. He shouldn’t be talking to Loki at all.

“Well then I accept your offer.”

And that was it. They were friendly again. Tony spent his nights talking with him, sleeping with the cube right next to him in the bed. And during the days, in the breaks from being a superhero he worked on BARF.

Sometimes when Ross (who had become the Avengers liaison for some reason) was going on about potential threats and the dangers they posed, Tony felt a little twinge of guilt. He knew about one potentially dangerous threat that could be dealt with if he had told them what he knew. But that twinge was small so he said nothing, and thankfully, it didn’t keep him awake at night.

Actually, he had never had such a regular and healthy sleeping schedule.

He also hadn’t slept with anyone since Pepper. There was no time, he didn’t want to hurt her, it would be awkward with the whole Loki thing… So he occupied himself with his duties and research, and for a couple of weeks nothing noteworthy happened.

Until he spilled some apple juice on the cube. Apple juice. Out of all things.

In his rush to wipe it all off and not let it somehow damage the cube he touched it, thinking to himself: _Shit. Shit. Shit. Well fucking done._

Not a minute later, he heard the voice of his good old friend Emma Frost inside his head.

_Whatever you’re doing Tony, knock it off. You’ve frightened one of my students._

“I- what. Emma? What was- What,” he said aloud but there was no reply. He tried somehow to ‘project’ his thoughts at her but it didn’t work.

He looked at the cube suspiciously. Another hidden application. Carefully, he touched it again and thought _Emma_ only to hear his own voice come out of it.

He ran upstairs and into the kitchen. There, he put every bottle of liquid he could find in a reusable shopping bag Vision had insisted on, and headed back to the workshop. He hadn’t made it downstairs yet when Friday, without checking in with Tony, decided it was the time to call Rhodey.

“Friday told me you just took a bottle of wine from the pantry. The only bottle that is allowed in the compound. Is there something going on?”

“Relax. It’s for an experiment. I swear none of it is going inside me. Friday will watch me. You’ll see for yourself at dinner today. I’ll be completely sober. Disconnect.”

The call ended and Tony made his way downstairs. There, he laid out all the bottles on a table, readied a piece of cloth, set the scanners running, and told Dummy to hover with the camera a little bit more out of the way.

He got to work. Pouring water on the cube had no effect, neither did orange juice. Red wine made Emma threaten his family jewels. Olive oil was hard to wash off, so was ketchup. By the time he tested everything, he had received concerned calls from Professor Xavier and Doctor Strange respectively. Both were very politely interested in his newfound telepathic abilities. Both received no real answers. Tony preferred Emma’s snippy comments to noisy inquiries. He made sure there were apology flowers waiting on her doorstep this evening.

“It appears potassium phosphates, food additives of the E340 group, are causing this reaction in the machine,” Friday said.

Tony hummed in acknowledgement. So that was the third application of the cube. They were all somehow connected with communication. Personal conversations, global announcements, MMS. Why the hell not? Go big or go home. They were aliens, a simple phone wouldn’t be enough for them.

Suddenly he felt the hairs at the back of his neck stand on their ends.

“What are you doing?”

Loki’s voice was full of cold fury and barely held restraint. It was also very close. And very very real. Tony’s skin was crawling. It was…. too real. If he turned around he would be looking at Loki, the real Loki. The alive Loki.

So he didn’t. Instead, he busied himself with rearranging the bottles on his desk and pretending to look through the readings.

“I don’t remember ever inviting you here.”

“Neither did you invite me to your tower and somehow it did not stop me from taking it over.”

“It was only the penthouse.”

“Stark.”

Tony sighed heavily and slowly turned around. Surprisingly, Loki was not dressed in his armour like Tony had expected him to be. He was wearing what probably passed in Asgard for casual wear; the kind of thing he would usually wear when they talked, which always made Tony wonder if that was what Asgardian pyjamas looked like because Tony always appeared in whatever state of dress he had fallen asleep in. But he never dared to ask.

“You shouldn’t be here, Loki.”

“I would have never set foot on this forsaken planet ever again if you hadn’t been broadcasting your thoughts to all and sundry.”

Tony’s jaw dropped. Had he heard that? Shit.

“Exactly how broad a transmission was this?”

“Luckily for you, it looks like the only recipients were Midgardian telepaths and me because I’m connected to the cube.”

Tony exhaled in relief. That could potentially have caused a lot of problems.

“All right. Since you’re here-“ Tony started but then cut short when the truth of his words struck him. He was talking to Loki. To a real, flesh and bone Loki. “Oh my god you are here. Just. Give me some time to process that.” Loki looked amused, as he often did. He even outstretched his hands and made a slow turn on a heel of his foot. “Thank you, that helped a lot.”

“You were saying?”

“What? Yes. Yes. I was. So, a little bit of potassium phosphate and you can send messages to… you said all telepaths on the planet and all connected entities?”

“Not a very useful application.”

“Stop being a killjoy.”

Loki walked around the table and stopped directly opposite where Tony was standing. Then he reached towards the cube but paused with his fingers millimetres away.

“Perhaps it’s best if you don’t let the whole Earth know you’re still kicking.” Loki glared but didn’t touch the cube. “Just a suggestion. Stop looking at me like that.”

“Did you get any responses?”

“Two very polite phone calls and a friendly threat to the most precious part of my body.”

“Your brain?” Loki asked with a smirk.

“That’s a close second.”

Loki retracted his hand and straightened. He seemed more closed-off in reality. Maybe just like Tony, he was now coming to the realization of how real it all was. Or maybe it was just Loki being Loki.

Tony refused to let an awkward silence settle between them. He would not be able to stand it.

“So what do you-“

He was interrupted by the appearance of a group of outlandishly clothed people in the middle of his workshop. They were more or less his height, perhaps a little shorter, definitely way broader. They also wore armour, lots of it.

Tony activated the suit beacon in an unconditional response. When he looked at him he saw that Loki was now wearing his full armour. Seeing him like this again made Tony’s skin crawl but it was not the time to analyze that particular feeling.

Not a piece of his suit managed to get to him in time to protect him. In fact, neither of them had any time to react when the biggest of the aliens threw a little orb their way.

Loki did make a move as if to stop it with his magic but nothing happened. He looked down at his hand in confusion. He made a move to kick back the orb but it was already too late; it had already started emitting black smoke that enveloped both of them. Tony only managed to think angrily that he should have put at least one working suit inside his workshop like he had been planning to, before the smoke made him lose consciousness.


	7. Chapter VI

Taken unawares and overpowered by a group of dwarves. Never had he stooped so low. Loki watched as the Nidavellirans chattered among each other and smoothly steered their little ship out of Midgardian atmosphere and into a tunnel that looked _exactly_ like the Bifrost. Huh. They had the technology that helped Asgard maintain its dominion over the other Realms of Yggdrasil. He wondered if Odin had ever suspected what was going on right under his nose. The pull of this tunnel was not as strong as that of  the Bifrost, but it was probably in order to avoid detection, not because they didn’t know how to reach that kind of speed. Less power meant less chance of someone spotting a change in the waves of the universe.

Next to him, Stark groaned quietly and opened his eyes. Wisely, he analysed the situation in silence. It shouldn’t have come as a surprise to Loki; the man had been held captive in the past. After Stark gathered all the information he needed, he discretely moved closer and whispered  into Loki’s ear, “Nidavellirans?”

Loki nodded and indicated the magic-suppressing shackles on his wrists. Stark cursed under his breath.

“What do we do?”

“Wait.”

Stark nodded, leaned on the wall behind them, and proceeded to examine his own handcuffs. They were much simpler than Loki’s. Their kidnappers had underestimated the threat he could pose. And of course, a moment later Stark was trying to rip a tiny piece of metal off Loki’s sleeve.

“Let me,” he whispered, smoothly removed the shard and handed it to Stark.

“You’ve got a plan?”

“Their technology of transport is flawed. Soon enough, we’ll enter a nebular storm, they’ll be struggling to keep the ship on course. You’ll take care of the one that is responsible for the drive system,” Loki inclined his head in the direction of the Nidavelliran in question and Stark hummed in agreement. "And I will try to focus all their attention on myself.”

“That doesn’t sound like a good plan. They didn’t even have to fight us before.”

“Then, I did not expect them to block my magic. Now I know all I can rely on is my physical skill.”

“All right, and then what?”

“We need to crash. We cannot let them take us to their destination.” Stark seemed unconvinced. “There’s no other way.”

“We could wait and see what they want.”

“They want to kill us on their own soil, where the laws protecting Earth are no longer in power. As long as you’re staying on your planet or travelling in-between the Nine Realms, you are under the lawful protection of Thor. The moment you step foot in another realm, voluntarily or not, that protection is void.”

“Maybe you’re wrong.”

“They already risked their heads by coming to your planet. Travelling to Midgard without the explicit permission of the King of Asgard is punishable by death. Trust me, they are not letting us go.”

“Maybe they had the king’s permission. Maybe they were there to collect you and I’m just an innocent bystander.“

“They are not acting at the king’s command.”

“How would you know?”

“Because I am the King of Asgard.”

“What?!” 

Stark’s not so subtle exclamation drew the attention of the dwarves for a second, but when neither Loki nor Stark moved they returned to their tasks. Loki elbowed Stark in the side when the last head turned around. Mortals.

“What? How is that possible?” repeated Stark quietly.

“I am not going to incriminate myself in front of you.”

“Now you’re pleading the fifth?”

“We had our agreement.”

“So everybody knows you’re alive? Thor?”

“Not exactly.”

Stark considered it for a minute and then looked at him in shock.

“Are you trying to tell me everyone thinks you’re your dad?”

“Possibly.”

Thankfully, that was when the storm finally started. Loki heard Stark’s shackles click and hit the ground and took it as a sign to act. He sprung to his feet and grabbed the nearest Nidavellirian by the hair. With few smooth movements he dislocated her shoulder and smashed her face against a control panel. Three more to go. He ignored Stark’s struggle with the controls and approached the remaining dwarves. The element of surprise was gone. Luckily, there was too little space for them to use any of their clever weapons, they all held simple knives in their hands. It shouldn’t be too hard. Actually, it was a miracle they had managed to apprehend him so quickly.

The ship was shaking and swaying, the noise of the blaring controls was deafening. He made a move to grab one of them by the hand but the man dodged him skilfully and managed to scratch the back of Loki’s hand as he went. After that none of them moved, all waiting for somebody else to expose themselves.

“God damn it!”

The dwarves turned around to look at Stark. That was the distraction Loki needed. He quickly grabbed the one on his right by the neck and crushed his windpipe. The man crumpled to the floor, clutching his neck uselessly, suffocating. The next one tried to stab Loki, but he blocked the knife with his shackles, wrestled the weapon from his opponent’s hand and thrust it straight into his gut. Then he turned around, ready to dodge whatever strike might have been coming his way only to discover the last of the Nidavellirians already dead with a knife sticking out of his back.

The ship started trembling, the colourful lights outside started getting dull, patches of a dark planet surface were appearing here and there.

“Okay! Hold on! I think I figured out how to land this thing!”

No, he hadn’t. Even Loki wasn’t sure how to operate such a ship. And granted, Stark was a genius, but even he couldn’t learn to control it in a matter of few minutes. Besides, Loki knew very well what a Bifrost crash looked like. He had learnt about it as a young boy; it was only a theory then. He supposed it was nice to see how it played out in reality.

“Come here, Stark. Quickly.”

“What? Why?”

“Emergency protocols.”

“You’ve got those on spaceships?”

Loki rolled his eyes and snatched Stark by the shirt. He tugged him towards the wall where he had noticed earlier some shelter orbs charging. He pulled Stark against himself and activated the one that was ready for use. A force field surrounded them just as the ship exited the rainbow tunnel and crashed against the planet at enormous speed. The force of the impact knocked Stark unconscious and made Loki feel shaky all over. He waited until he could no longer hear any explosions coming from the ship and moved as to cover Stark in case something fell on them when he deactivated the orb. He refused to analyse any of his actions. He thanked the Norns Stark was not awake for this.

Loki grunted in pain when a piece of metal fell on him after he had turned off the force field. He stood up and brushed of the dust of his clothes. Then, he stepped to the side and took a good look around. They had crashed in the middle of a field. The ground was recently ploughed and soft, there was an unusual, purple-ish tinge to it that Loki felt he should recognize. He took some of it in his hand to inspect it more closely. Behind him, Stark coughed and retched.

“Just so you know, I hate being manhandled like that.”

What an ungrateful bastard. Loki should have let him die.

“I saved your life.”

“And thank you for that. Next time, try with a little less manhandling.”

“Next time, I’ll leave you for dead.”

“Stop it, you’re breaking my heart.” Stark spat audibly and then walked up to Loki. “Where are we?”

“I think it might be Alfheim.”

“Oh. Okay.” Stark’s voice sounded weak. He looked skeptically at the wreckage around them. “I don’t think I can fix this.”

“We couldn’t stay that long anyway. Somebody’s going to want to investigate the crash site. You’re human and I’m in shackles. No one is going to take our side.”

“Well then I suggest you lead ‘cause I have absolutely no clue where to go.”

“Take the cube.”

Stark shot him a dirty look but said nothing. He rummaged through the wreckage as Loki contemplated the direction they should take. He had no idea where they were except that it was probably north of Alfheim. There were two possible directions they could take. The woods, where they would  have to walk a long way before they reached some kind of settlement. It was a longer route but a safer one, if one  ignored the possible threat of wild animals. Or they could walk in the opposite direction, where they would undoubtedly find some kind of a village nearby. Where they would immediately draw suspicion and be brought in front of authorities, and finally somebody would recognize Loki.

“I found something for you.” Stark tossed him a large piece of cloth. “You can hide the handcuffs under this until I get my hands on some tools.”

Loki rubbed the cloth with his fingers, it was thick and smooth to the touch. Expensive. If they managed to clean up before they reached a settlement they could pass for a wealthy man and his servant. He glanced at Stark who was gazing up at the sky in wonder. Convincing him to take part in that charade would be difficult. Oh well. That was a problem for later. For now, they had to get as far away from the crash site as possible. Loki started walking toward the woods and Stark trotted behind him in silence.

 

*****

 

Tony was completely and overwhelmingly sick of walking. Even the constant reminders that they were in fact walking through an alien forest didn’t lift his spirits anymore. The colourful, glowing flowers, the sky so full of stars that were nothing like the ones on Earth; there was no moon, but the vicinity of stars made the sky a brighter night than that of Earth. He didn’t know much about trees, these looked pretty normal to him, if a bit bigger than the usual Earth ones. But there were gigantic trees on his planet too so they didn’t make the scenery all that different. What bothered him most about this place was the smell. It was a very flowery forest. And the flowers smelled. At first, he liked it, but after an hour he started hating it. Now, he could hardly smell anything at all.

He was tired, his legs hurt, his feet hurt, and his head also hurt because of all the stinky flowers. Loki had forbidden him from touching anything without his permission and Tony was too smart to let the contrary part of his personality win and disobey that order. He really wanted to stay alive. But his fingers itched every time he raised his head from the ground.

They weren’t talking as they walked. It required too much effort and Tony was barely keeping up with that freakishly long legged jerk anyway. After what felt like maybe two hours of walking, they found a river and continued along it, which was probably the smart choice - where there was water, there was civilization.

It was when he started struggling to take every step that he raised his head and found that he could barely see Loki; he was so far away.

“Hey! Is losing me in the middle of the woods a part of the plan or are you just being an asshole?!”

The figure in front of him turned around.

“It is not my fault you’re unbelievably slow, Stark!”

“I just don’t have your freakishly long legs! Seriously, what do they feed you on Asgard?! ‘Eat me’ cakes?!”

“It is called being tall. Nothing you would know about! Now be silent and catch up.”

When Tony had finally made up for the distance between them, Loki was sitting with his back to a tree, looking as if he hadn't a care in the world. Tony dropped beside him and gave into the urge of taking his shoes off. He groaned with relief and it made Loki chuckle.

“Finally. I was starting to fall asleep.”

“It wasn’t even five minutes,” Tony snapped at him.

Loki made a sceptical sound. “Didn’t feel like it.”

He started massaging his feet and it felt like there was no other source of happiness in the world than his own hands on his foot.

“Has anyone told you that you’re a little shit?”

Loki grinned at him like the Cheshire cat.

“Stark, you are lucky I’m quite familiar with Midgardian vernacular or you’d already be dead.”

Tony wondered how Loki had learned about ‘the Midgardian vernacular’. Did he hang out on Earth in his down time? Pretended to be a cosplayer? Or maybe a barista?

“You didn’t answer my question.”

“I do not think it is worth answering.”

“So that’s a yes.”

It turned out massaging your own feet after a long trek through a forest was just as good as sex. He moved on from his feet to his calves and it was like finding God after all these years. His massage marathon absorbed him so much and for so long that when he finally finished, he found himself sitting alone.

“Loki?” There was no response. Tony sprung to his feet. “Loki you bastard, where the hell are you?!”

“I didn’t think you would miss me,” said a silky voice behind him.

Tony turned around ready for a confrontation only to be stopped short by the sight of Loki, dripping wet from head to toe and with his coat bundled under his arm.

“What happened to you?”

“Nothing.”

Loki dropped the coat and some kind of fruit on the ground in front of Tony, sat down and started to peel the fruit with a knife he must have taken from one of the dwarves. Tony had tried to look for one in the wreckage but had only found melted pieces of the ship’s hull and the cube that got them into this mess.

“Did you trip and fall into the river?”

Loki kept on peeling the fruit with a little bit more force. Tony took it as his answer. He started laughing uncontrollably and dodged a peel when Loki threw one at him.

“Alright, I guess if I was walking on something slippery with my hands bound with a what? 20 inch? long chain I would’ve fallen into the river too.”

Loki raised his eyebrows critically and extended his hand towards Tony; on his palm were  chunks of a brown citrus fruit and some round and bright red pieces that looked more like necklace beads than food.

Tony took the offering gingerly and said, just because it felt better than being silent, “You know killing me now would be completely pointless.” He actually didn’t think Loki would hurt him. Not after all this. Not after weeks of talking to each other every night. Even if Loki had taken a two year break at one point he still came back to talk to Tony.

“Don’t eat it if you’re so afraid of me.”

Loki’s voice was strangely tired, gone was the usual underlying amusement. It made Tony feel stupid. Had he hurt Loki’s feelings? Did he care? Strangely, he did. Oh god, were they friends now? Was he friends with Loki? Was that what his life was like now? Sitting in a middle of an alien forest on a faraway alien planet, eating alien fruit with his alien friend called Loki? Huh. Actually, it didn’t sound so bad.

Loki was eating his own portion with an unreadable look on his face. Right, better not offend the only guy that would help him stay alive. Tony tried the brown fruit first. It. Was. Awful. If he hadn’t been so hungry he would have spit it out. Instead, he made a disgusted sound and tried to swallow all of the brown bits in one go. Loki was smirking now, but didn’t comment. After eating the brown ones, Tony steeled himself before trying the reds. They were surprisingly good. Good as in they had no taste at all. It felt like eating a piece of sponge. He rated his first experience with alien food _1/10: completely unimpressed._

He drank a bit of water from the river to wash down the awful taste of the brown fruit and cleaned his face. When he came back Loki eyed him curiously.

“What?”

“How are you feeling?” To say Tony was confused would have been an understatement, he gaped at Loki. “Is everything alright? I wasn’t sure if those weren’t poisonous for humans.”

“What?! Are you kidding me? I can’t tell if you’re serious or not. You- you fucking asshole.”

Tony plopped down on the ground opposite of the man who almost poisoned him and glared. Loki was looking at him with that amused expression on his face again. It was hard to stay angry.

“What now?”

“It’s still dark and it will be dark for quite a while. Days are longer here than on Midgard. They’re almost as long as on Asgard.”

That was another interesting thing Thor had never thought to tell them about. He never really spoke about his home planet. The last time he did was to tell them about his hammer and it wasn’t much.

“You’ve got longer days on Asgard?”

“Yes. If we were to apply your units of time then you could say a day on Asgard lasts 31 hours and a year has fourteen months.”

“And here?”

“27 hours? I’m not sure about the rest.”

“Clearly, you weren’t a very diligent student.”

Loki smiled crookedly. “It didn’t seem important at the time. If I had known during my youth I was to spend a night in an Alfheim wilderness with a useless mortal as my only companion, I would have paid closer attention when we discussed edible plants.”

“Good to know it was the only thing you were sure about, not the best what this planet has to offer. And hey! I’m not useless!” Loki looked sceptical. “I’m going to take your jewellery off as soon as we find some tools.”

“You can’t. Only another magic user can do it. Otherwise, it would be too easy for me to set myself free.”

Damn it. Tony was hoping they would release Loki from his shackles and then he would teleport them away from this planet.

“How are we going to find somebody to do that?”

“Let me worry about it.”

Tony gritted his teeth but said nothing. He was exhausted, if Loki didn’t want to talk about something he was not going to push him. Even if it was irritating.

“Are we going to take shifts or something?”

Loki scoffed, “I don’t trust you that much, Stark.”

Auch. That hurt a little.

“Shouldn’t it be the other way round?”

“I think we’ve already established I do not need you and if I wanted you dead you would already be rotting with our kidnappers.”

Tony didn’t dare ask him why that was. Why was Loki keeping him alive? A part of him was afraid that he would kill him just to be contrary. Another part was just plain scared of the answer.

So instead, he changed the subject, just to keep Loki from coming to the conclusion that it was better to kill him after all. It would certainly mean less loose ends for him. Tony was very well aware he posed a threat to the secret of Loki’s continued existence.

“Won’t we get cold, especially you in these wet clothes? It’s kind of chilly. Maybe we should try to start a fire?”

“No fires. That might draw attention.”

“You’ll freeze.”

Loki smiled bitterly. He shook his head and threw his coat at Tony.

“I won’t. You can take this, it didn’t fall in the river.”

It was the most surreal situation in Tony’s whole life, and he both fought aliens as well as  been through some really weird acid trips in the past. He took the coat and the piece of cloth he had given Loki earlier, bundled the cloth under his head and wrapped the coat around himself. It smelled nice. Like Loki.

Oh god. Tony was a heroine in a teenage space romance. He was lying on the ground with a coat belonging to a gorgeous guy wrapped around him. The coat smelled pleasantly (at least better than the flowers) and the guy in question was being uncharacteristically nice. Fuck. Tony started thumping his head softly against the ground.

“Stark. What exactly are you doing?”

Oh. And one more thing he forgot about. He had been having dreams about the guy for about three months now.

“My life is insane.”

“Oh.”

Tony opened one eye to look at Loki who seemed confused.

“What? You’ve nothing to say to that? Unbelievable.”

“I’m just politely respecting your newfound sense of madness.”

“Don’t. I don’t know how I’d deal with the polite you.”

Loki opened his mouth, closed it with a click and frowned. Tony sniggered.

“Go to sleep. I will not wait for you if you delay us again tomorrow,” Loki said.

Tony was pretty sure that he wouldn’t. Nevertheless, he was exhausted. He took a deep breath (which was a huge mistake because of the smell of the flowers) and immediately fell asleep.

 

*****

 

Of course. Obviously.

He couldn’t even sleep without seeing Loki. The bastard was sitting cross-legged, as he usually did in those dreams, across from Tony. He was grinning widely. He was also dressed in a long purple coat and the chain between his wrists had been cut off, the wristbands were still there though.

“This explains so much,” said Loki with evident satisfaction.

“No it doesn’t.”

“Listen carefully. I really don’t want to spend my night talking to you. The back window in the smithy will be open, Karahl is bluffing, and for the love of all that is dear to you do not let us eat the Jaleh.”

With that said, Loki gave Tony no time to reply; he leaned forward and pushed Tony off the tree.

He woke up gradually. First, he smelt a nice spicy smell, then there was a sound of leaves rustling and something small hitting the ground repeatedly somewhere near his head. He cracked open his eyes. It was a knife. A large pale hand pulled it out of the ground and then it thrust into the same spot again. A spot not far from his face. Tony’s eyes snapped open. He relaxed when he heard Loki chuckle.

“Asshole,” Tony muttered, took the knife in his hand and examined the blade. “You’re going to blunt it.”

“It’s enchanted. I’m not an amateur.”

Loki extended his hand and Tony assessed the distance between himself and the patch of ground between Loki’s outstretched legs. Could he aim that well? Loki looked at him pointedly.

“Yeah, better not.”

He handed back the knife. Pity he couldn’t find anything for himself in the wreckage. He felt naked without any sort of weapon on him. It had been a long time since he hadn’t so much as a glove with him.

It was still a little bit dark when they ate the same awful fruit and set off. Tony hadn’t said a word to Loki about his dream. It wasn’t anything pressing, and he really enjoyed having some kind of upper hand.


	8. Chapter VII

They reached a settlement just as the second of Alfheim’s suns was beginning to set. They would have been there earlier if it weren’t for Stark’s loitering. Perhaps, it was better they arrived under the cover of darkness, but Loki wasn’t about to admit it aloud.

They stayed on the hill from which they had a good view of the area while remaining under the cover of the forest.

The port was surrounded by badly maintained walls with a watch tower here and there. On the whole, it was rather badly protected. Its people must have felt quite secure under the protection of Asgard. There hadn’t been a war here since the time Loki was a little boy.

When the darkness finally settled and only few guards patrolling the walls remained awake, they sneaked towards the town. In silence and keeping as close to the wall as possible, they search for a hole or wicket. They waited until the guard walking above them passed and Stark set to opening the lock with two small pieces of metal he ripped off Loki’s shirtsleeve. The wicket opened silently and they slipped inside the town.

Thankfully, it didn’t take them long to find a smithy. There was one problem - it was located right across from an inn. Too many people were about, sneaking inside unnoticed would be short of impossible. Loki was about to start walking away in search of some other solution when Stark grabbed his arm and led him to the other side of the building, where they found an open window.

There was nothing remarkable about the interior. It looked like any other smithy Loki had ever been at, but Stark couldn’t stop touching the tools and gasping in wonder. Some people were very easily satisfied. Loki let him take a minute and admire all there was to find in a truly unextraordinary smithy, then cleared his throat pointedly.

“You’re such a killjoy. Come on, I have what I need, let’s do this thing.”

Loki didn’t feel comfortable letting Stark put dangerous tools anywhere close to his body but  had no choice; it was easier to hide the wristbands if there was no chain joining them. Stark made a quick job of removing the chain and soon enough they were slipping out of the town again.

They spent another night in the woods, waiting for the morning to finally come. At least Loki was. Stark had started snoring contentedly as soon as he laid his head down on the bundled piece of cloth in which they carried the cube.

In his thoughts Loki returned to their conversation the night before. It was obvious he was keeping Stark alive. He probably wouldn’t be doing it if it required some kind of effort on his part but still, he was doing it. He could have left him. And he hadn’t.

The truth was much simpler that any theory Stark had doubtlessly come up with: Loki didn’t want to be alone. He had been on his own for a long time and he did not enjoy it in the slightest. No one wanted to talk to the Allfather as one would talk to a friend, as an equal. In the past he considered that a privilege, now it just made him feel…. lonely. And there was Stark. Stark who was good company, who was more than he seemed, who hadn’t told anyone Loki was still alive.

He felt pathetic. Clinging to a mortal, just like Thor. He should have left him there. He should have broken the connection with the cube as soon as it was no longer useful to him.

He thought about leaving Stark, walking away. But he didn’t do it, he waited until daybreak and shook him awake.

During the day no one paid them any mind as they entered the port town in a crowd of other travellers. They went to a market where Loki busied himself with gentle emptying of other people’s pockets and Stark gaped at almost every single thing he saw. Few people glanced curiously his way but generally the human was ignored, he was not the first unusual visitor in a port like this.

When Loki felt he had emptied enough pockets to get himself a long-sleeved coat that would cover his wrists and at least one night in an inn, he took Stark by the elbow and tugged him towards the textile part of the market.

“Hey. I was talking to somebody. I was talking to an _elf_.” There was so much glee in Stark’s voice Loki squeezed his arm tighter just to make himself feel better. “Auch. Let go of me. What did I tell you about manhandling? I can walk.” Stark pulled his arm out of Loki’s grip and glared. “Where are we going?”

“I need a coat.”

Stark made a strange face but quickly schooled his expression, Loki elected to ignore the eccentricity; if he wondered about every single unusual thing Stark did he wouldn’t have time to think of anything else.

“You already have one,” Stark pointed out.

“This doesn’t have sleeves. I need something that will hide the wristbands.”

They walked towards the first stall and Loki looked through the displayed clothes. Usually, he would get something made for him but there was no time to wait. He could deal with wearing  a previously owned coat, even if he wasn’t thrilled about the idea.

He was trying on a nice, if a bit too smelly, green coat when Stark threw him something purple.

“Take this one.”

Reluctantly, Loki tried it on and the coat was perfect. It had long sleeves that easily covered the wristbands, there were no holes in it, nor was it stained. It didn’t even smell bad.

After Loki had sold his leather coat for a lot less than it was worth, they went to an inn located right next to the docks. The building was narrow but tall, leaning a bit to the side due to poor craftsmanship. Inside it was crowded and rowdy, perfect conditions for staying out of sight. They took the smallest private room available, located at the very top floor. The room had two cots and an adjoined washroom. The window gave a pleasant view of the sea and the docks; it reminded Loki of all the times him, Thor, Warriors Three, and Lady Sif travelled in search of adventure.

They went down to the main room and settled into a table at the back. Loki caught the attention of a server and asked for something to eat for the two of them.

The elf eyed Stark curiously and said, “I’m not sure if it’s good for his kind but our cook makes the best Jaleh you’ll find in Halhadak or anywhere on Alfheim for that matter.”

For some reason that made Stark snap out of his keen observation of the elves and bark a violent, “No. Something else. Not that.”

Both Loki and the server blinked at the man in confusion but Stark offered no explanation for his behaviour.

“A stew then?” asked the elf hesitantly.

“Perfect. We’ll take two of that.”

“And a jug of whatever wine you have open, please,” added Loki after the fleeing server. “What was that about?”

“Hmm?” Stark looked away from the room to glance at him. “Nothing. Just didn’t want to eat that thing.”

“You have never even tried it.”

“And I still know it’s shit.”

It was… odd, even for Stark, to behave that way. He was about to inquire further but their server was back with two bowls full of pleasantly smelling stew. They were both starved after two days of walking through the forest so Loki’d forgotten all about Stark’s strangeness in favour of satisfying his hunger.

After they had eaten Loki asked for a piece of parchment and some writing implements. He ignored Stark’s questioning glances and made sure he couldn’t see anything of what Loki was writing. He quickly scribbled a message in which he explained his current situation and sealed it with a ring he always kept in his pocket.

“Who’s Leah?” asked Stark.

Of course he had seen the name on the envelope; why was Loki even surprised?

“A friend.”

“A magical friend?”

“Yes.”

“So she’s going to help us with the….” Stark indicated his wrists.

“I hope she will help ME with the magic suppressing shackles, yes.”

“Does she know you’re not dead?”

“She will in a day or two.”

Stark looked at him incredulously. “What kind of friend are you? You let her think you're dead? And now you’re doing what? Asking her for a favour and saying: oh and by the way, I’m alive?!”

Loki breathed in through his nose and glared at Stark. Mortals. They talked about things they had no way of understanding as if they were experts. How could Thor stand them?

Luckily for Stark, that was the moment their server finally showed up with the ordered jug of wine and two mugs so Loki halted his reply. Instead, he poured himself some wine and started drinking. Only after he had finished drinking did he notice Stark hadn’t touched the wine, he even pushed his mug away to Loki’s side of the table. Loki put his mug back on the table and studied him curiously. Was he afraid Loki would poison him again? That was ridiculous. He should know that by now.

“What? No mug smashing?”

“That’s an Asgardian tradition. We are not in Asgard, it would be considered rude here. Why are you not drinking?”

Stark grimaced. “I don’t drink. A whole year, one month, and seventeen days sober.”

Oh. Stark was one of those. The ones that could not control their drinking. There were some like that in Asgard, too. But they rarely tried to give it up. A state of constant inebriation was disapprovingly tolerated on Loki’s planet.

“Don’t look at me like that.”

Loki waved his hand and their server approached, looking quite unhappy to be summoned again.

“Please bring a jug of water for my friend.”

The elf did not say anything, just nodded and marched away, perhaps he expected the unusual looking man to be so strange as to drink water at an inn.

After finishing their meal and refreshing themselves, they spent rest of the afternoon walking along the streets of the town. It was a port like any other but, just like in the smithy, Stark was delighted with almost everything his eyes fell upon. He kept touching things and muttering to himself. The pedestrians mistook him for a drunkard and left him to it, some answered his silly questions, some waved him off. He seemed quite content with that outcome.

In the evening they returned to the inn. The downstairs area was now full of people drinking. Loki was heading towards the stairs when Stark snatched his arm and tugged him towards a gambling table. The elves and Vanir sitting at it were in the middle of a hand of Ho .

“Explain the rules to me,” Stark insisted.

They watched the game through two more hands with Loki pointing out the rules to an eagerly listening Stark until the man turned towards him and demanded, “Give me some money.”

Loki shook his head sternly. “No. You are not gambling my money away.”

“Don’t worry, it’ll be fine. I promise.”

“No.”

“Loki…”

He covered Stark’s mouth with his hand. “Do not call me that. In here my name is Lodvar son of Ragnar, nothing else, you understand?”

Stark raised his eyebrows but nodded. Loki took his hand away.

“Okay then, _Lodvar_ , give me some money and I’ll promise you won’t regret it.”

Reluctantly, Loki handed Stark a few coins. He had a feeling that he was going to regret this decision. To make it easier on himself, he waved for more wine as Stark approached the table confidently. One of the Vanir moved to the side to make some space for him.

“And who you might be, little stranger?” a Moon Elf asked when Stark plopped himself down in a chair.

“Tony Stark, you?”

“Gauk Sigvardsdotter. Do you know how to play, Tony the Stark?”

“My friend there explained the game to me.”

Gauk gazed up at Loki. “Does he do not wish to play?”

“Him? Nah. _Lodvar_ disapproves of gambling, don’t you, _Lodvar?_ ”

Norns, if Stark didn’t stop saying his fake name in that tone Loki was going to strangle him. He smiled apologetically at the elf and shook his head. “I’m afraid Tony’s right. Gambling is not for me. But please, do not strip my friend of everything, let him leave with some dignity.”

Stark seemed surprised at the use of his first name but wisely did not say a word in their present company.

The hand was dealt and the game begun. Stark was doing fine, after a few hands he only lost a small portion of the money Loki had given him. He was getting along with the others splendidly, his quick wit and general outlandishness sparked the attention of other players. They were asking him all kinds of questions and burst out laughing every time Stark said something particularly Midgardian.

Loki, for his part, made sure Stark did not reveal anything of importance in his excitement, and slowly worked through mug after mug of wine.

“Your friend is not very good at playing Ho,” said a voice next to him.

It was another Moon Elf, he was dressed in worn down but clean clothes that had many, many layers. Loki recognized in him a hired knife immediately and discreetly checked the best possible route out.

“He’s doing fine considering it is his first time.”

The man smiled. “Is that why you’re watching him so carefully?”

“He can make quite a spectacle of himself if he’s not looked after.”

“Surely, you could leave him alone for a little while?” Loki did not answer. The man offered him wine from his jug but Loki indicated his own full mug. “My name is Karahl, what do they call you?”

“Lodvar.”

“Well, Lodvar.” Karahl gave Loki a long, appreciative look. “What brings you to Laarlegard?”

Oh. Ooooooh. That’s what this was about. Huh. It had been a long time since he was at the receiving end of someone’s advances. He relaxed and told Karahl a story about lost family fortune and a dream to satisfy his wanderlust. He told him about meeting a human who fell on Alfheim during the Convergence and finding him an amusing travel companion.

They talked and drank until suddenly Stark turned around and shouted in their direction,

“Hey! _Lodvar,_ does your friend want to join us? I promise I won’t make him bid his pants.”

Stark’s words elicited a round of laughter in his game companions, a few even clapped him on the back in appreciation. Loki suppressed an impulse to roll his eyes as he watched Stark soak up the attention like a sponge.

Guak seconded Stark’s request, “Yes! Karahl!”

Was Loki mistaken or did Stark become a little bit more attentive after hearing that name? Perhaps it was the wine; he had drunk a lot.

“Leave Tony’s friend alone for a moment and come play with us! Tony the Stark is the most amusing of players!”

Karahl gave Loki an apologetic look and sat down at the table. Loki was quite disappointed to see him go, he rather liked talking to him. Karahl turned his way and winked. Loki smiled, covering it by taking a sip from his mug. He would be back.

 

*****

 

Karahl. It was hard to stop himself from grinning. When Tony demanded the guy Loki had been flirting with for the past hour join them, he had not been suspecting the man was the Karahl Loki from the dream had told him about.

Playing his skills down throughout the whole evening turned out to be a great idea. Karahl entered the game aggressively, convinced he could quickly win and go back to schmoozing. Wrong, because this time Tony used all the tricks he had up his sleeve. Soon enough, there was only him, Karahl, and a big pile of coins between them. Quite an audience gathered around them, which probably angered Loki who had insisted they not draw attention to themselves, but the harm had already been done.

Karahl looked sure of himself but Tony knew it was all an act. He did his best to appear unsure and pushed the rest of his money to the middle of the table. Hearing Loki mutter a curse behind him, he couldn’t help but grin.

Tony had never played a game where it actually mattered if he won or not. Gambling had always been about fun for him, not the money. It was hard to lose or win so much money that it would matter to him. But this time? It was quite thrilling. Especially when he knew he was going to win this hand.

When all the dice had been cast and all the cards were revealed Karahl cursed and threw his hand on the table. He lost. Watching him walk away in anger without so much as saying goodbye to Loki, Tony smirked and started gathering his money.

“Sorry, pal. Maybe next time you’ll have more luck! Hey, _Lodvar_. Come help me with this!”

Loki sauntered closer and pocketed the exact amount of money he had given him earlier.

Tony shook his head when Guak proposed another round. “Not today, friends. I promise to play again tomorrow.”

“Ahhh but tomorrow the news about your feigned incompetence will be known to all! There will be no one left for you to cheat! Come now, Tony the Stark, let us play again!”

Tony laughed. “Not today Guak. It was nice to meet you.”

Guak clapped him heavily on the arm. “And you. Although I must admit I do not see how you have come by your alias. There’s nothing stark about you.”

“Well let’s just say you don’t know me very well yet.”

Guak laughed and clapped his shoulder again. Tony didn’t even try to return the gesture, the woman was too tall for him to reach her arm with dignity. Instead, he waved goodbye, which caused another salve of laughter, and turned towards Loki who was grinning at him widely. Grinning at him _drunkenly_.

“That was impressive,” he said with that particular drunk lightness in his voice.

“And you are drunk, aren’t you?”

“Possibly.”

Tony smiled and led him by the arm towards the stairs.

“Let’s go before your friend comes back with a vengeance.”

Loki laughed. Oh boy. Loki was laughing, not smirking, not cackling, laughing. Tony hoped he wouldn’t have to carry him up the stairs. Thankfully, he was lucky; Loki was perfectly able to climb the stairs on his own, he even took two at the time in a hurry to get upstairs. Tony trotted behind him. It felt like the theme of the last couple of days: Loki taking long strides and Tony running to catch up.

After Loki had won the battle with the keyhole, they stumbled inside - Loki first and Tony right behind him, trying to keep him upright.

Tony closed the door behind them while Loki sat on one of the beds. He was walking towards the other bed when Loki caught his arm. Tony looked at him questioningly. Loki’s thumb started moving in a circular manner on the skin of his forearm. It felt oddly gentle. Tony’s heartbeat doubled.

Gazing at him with an unreadable expression Loki whispered, “It would be smarter to kill you.”

At just like that the moment was gone; Tony jerked his hand back, sat on the other bed and started taking his shoes off.

“That’s nice.”

“I did not say that I would.”

“Yhym.”

Loki watched him unblinkingly as he stripped his shirt off.

“Tony?” Oh dear, the doubled heartbeat was back again. “Why didn’t you tell Thor about me?”

“I don’t know where he is.”

“Is that the reason?”

Tony sighed. They were going to do this, weren’t they? He figured it was better to come clean when Loki was drunk and there was a possibility he would not remember the conversation than in the light of day.

“Because I don’t want them to execute you.”

Loki laughed, thanked him, and fell asleep.

It took Tony a lot longer to do the same.

 

*****

 

Waking to the sound of someone walking about the room was not something he had expected. Loki opened his eyes slowly and immediately shut them when he realized where he was, and what he had done the night before.

Pathetic.

He shouldn’t have drunk so much. He shouldn’t have said those things to Stark.

Norns. What had he been reduced to? A bumbling idiot desperately clinging to a mortal because there was no one else in the world who still cared about him. Maybe besides Thor, and hopefully Hela, just a little. Enough, perhaps, to grant him one favour he desperately needed at the moment - the freedom from his shackles. He did not dare think what he would have to do if she rejected his proposal.

“Loki? You awake?”

Should he pretend to still be asleep? Would Stark try to wake him if he did? Would it change anything? He could not reverse time, what was done was done. All he had to do was pretend it never happened, he did not remember such a conversation ever taking place between them.

“Yes.”

“I’m heading downstairs, are you coming with me?” 

Loki opened his eyes and watched Stark put on his silly Midgardian trousers and something that looked like- was it a Raleoj?

“Where did you get that?”

Stark looked mighty pleased with himself while straightening his new possession.

“I won it yesterday. The woman that gave it to me had run out of money, I didn’t mind getting a shirt instead.”

Loki was wide awake now. Of course the bloody mortal had no idea what he was wearing. And who was that woman? One did not just give away a Raleoj. They were a mark of status. One had to work hard to be awarded with it.

“Congratulations, Stark. You’ve just become a member of one of the local guilds.”

“What? What guild?”

“I do not know.”

The man frowned in thought. “What does that mean exactly?”

“It means, by wearing this,” Loki leaned forward and tugged at the hem of Stark’s shirt. “you’re impersonating a member some guild. It is a crime. A serious one. I suggest you put on something else.”

“But I just washed my shirt!”

Ignoring Stark’s indignant exclamation, Loki stood up and went into the washroom. There, he bathed quickly and considered his own clothes. They both needed something new to wear. It was a good idea to go to the market again; it would give them something to do. Loki wondered how Stark would react to his proposition. Judging by the joy with which he was wearing the Raleoj he would probably be delighted.

He was right. When Loki made his proposition Stark grinned, called it a great idea, and pronounced that he ‘loved playing dress-up’.

The main area of the inn looked deserted when they made their way downstairs. There was hardly any people sitting at the tables. It was odd. In such a big establishment, there should have been many more guests taking their meals or just passing the time. It made Loki suspicious. There was something wrong. He glanced at Stark who was frowning too. Good, at least he did not lack in observation skills.

“You’ve noticed it, too, huh?”

Nodding, Loki slowly reached for the knife strapped to his left forearm. Stark nearly jumped out of his skin in shock when, suddenly, their usual server appeared at the table. The elf seemed unhappy to see them, eyeing the Raleoj Stark was wearing he asked, “Will both of you be eating?”

“Where’s everybody?” Stark asked while Loki confirmed that yes, they would both like  breakfast.

It was hard to stop himself from groaning in frustration, but he managed. Barely.

The server grimaced apologetically. “There has been a…. Yesterday’s Jaleh was not good. Every person that ate it has been sick since morning.”

It was good they hadn’t eaten any then. If it weren’t for Stark- Loki turned towards Stark who was smiling broadly at the news. How could he have known? It was not possible.

“Hmm… could we get only dry foods from now on?”

“Certainly. Wine?”

“Water’s fine.”

 Loki waited until the server was gone and pierced Stark with a hard look.

“How did you know?”

Apparently, it was possible for Stark to be even more pleased with himself for he beamed at Loki in reply. Wiggling his finger irritatingly, he leaned back in his chair.

“Ahhh… That’s for me to know and you to wonder about.”

“Stark.”

“Lo- _Lodvar._ Stop being so suspicious. It’s me. If I’m not worried then you don’t have anything to worry about either.”

Surprising both himself and Stark, if the look on his face was anything to go by, Loki let the matter lie. He supposed it wasn’t necessary for him to know where Stark got his information from.

They ate the bread and smoked meat that the server had brought for them in silence. Loki had expected things between them to change somehow, after the things he had said the night before, but Stark acted as if nothing had happened. Loki wasn’t sure if it was pity, good manners, or Stark prefering to erase that particular memory too.

“You know I can see you staring, right?”

He was not- no. He was not staring. He glanced a few times. Once or twice.

Loki looked at Stark pointedly with a raised eyebrow, a look which would usually shut up even Fandral. But not Stark, apparently.

“Please. You’re not fooling me with that face. I know you.”

“As always, you’re overestimating your own importance.”

“Oh am I?” Stark clicked his tongue in mock disapproval. “I don’t think I am.”

Rendered speechless, Loki stood up from the table and marched outside. Just because Stark was right did not mean Loki had to admit it. He didn’t acknowledge Stark when he caught up with him but kept on heading towards the market. Perhaps he would lose him in the crowd and escape on the next ship leaving port.

Lok groaned internally. Of course he wouldn’t. He couldn’t even lie to himself anymore.

 

*****

 

Seeing Stark wear clothes so unlike the attire worn on his home planet was off-putting. The clothes did not suit him at all. They were too… Asgardian. Everything looked wrong, the colours, the material, the cut. But Stark seemed delighted with them, he kept looking at himself in every reflective surface, grinning like a child.

Clothed and weary from the long walk, they returned to the deserted inn. There were a few more people sitting at the tables now, some of them looking a little bit worse for wear. Once again, Loki wondered how Stark could have known about the spoilt Jaleh.

Feeling lazy and stuffed from the fish they had bought and ate at the docks, and stopping at the counter to get their respective jugs of wine and water, they headed to their room. Loki ignored Stark’s pointed look at his drink, deeming it unworthy of a response. What might be a lot for a mortal was nothing to him.

Loki was already mentally drinking his wine and sprawling on the bed when Stark spoke, “So there’s something I heard at the market.”

Loki sighed in irritation. Was it possible for him to remain silent for more than a moment? What was it now? Another kind of currency? A name of a planet?

“It was about you.”

Loki’s blood ran cold. Had someone recognized him? He had been careful. He had worn his hood as often as customs allowed, let his long hair cover most of his face, made sure not to draw attention to himself, not to let anybody see his trademark green attire. He had done everything he could, only someone who knew him personally would have been able to recognize him.

“Well, not exactly,” continued Stark, as if Loki’s heart hadn’t just missed a beat due to his announcement. “You remember those women who were looking for a veil? I heard them talk. Apparently, there’s something going on with the Allfather. People have been sent away from the castle, appointments were cancelled. They didn’t say anything about a disappearance but people have noticed something is wrong.”

Loki took a hefty gulp of his wine and sat down on the floor. Just like he had been dreading; his absence had not gone unnoticed. Odin’s wish to not  be bothered, for he had matters to attend to, had probably gained him a day, maybe two. The whole of the Asgardian court was probably frantically searching for their king while trying to maintain an image of perfect composure to all outsiders. Loki dreaded the state in which he was going to find matters when he went back. His disappearance would not only raise questions, but also weaken his position.

 

“What are you going to do about it?”

Stark lowered himself beside Loki, sitting close enough for their shoulders to touch.

“I am going to go back and fix everything.”

“Won’t they ask questions?”

“They most certainly will.”

“And?”

“And I am the King of Asgard, they will accept whatever explanation I give them.”

“Is that your idea of ruling? I’ll just tell them whatever and they all have to accept it?”

“That’s exactly the way Odin did it. No one dares to argue with the Allfather.”

“I would.”

“I do not doubt that.”

Stark nudged him with his elbow playfully and Loki let him. There wouldn’t be any more opportunities for them to be like this, when they finally returned to their lives. Loki would be busy getting his affairs back in order, no time for visits to Midgard. In the privacy of his own mind, Loki admitted that he was going to miss spending time with Stark in the physical world. He was not sure if sharing dreams would be enough this time round.

Speaking of which, while Loki mused on the uncertain future, Stark had taken the bag with the cube from under his bed and was now standing over Loki with it in hand.

“Will you show me Asgard?” 

Truth be told, Loki had almost forgotten about the damned thing. And now it was there again. An object from his past, a thing he had thought lost forever. He took the bag from Stark and let the cube fall to the floor in front of them. Stark sat back in his previous place and watched Loki with interest.

What should he show him first? The Bifrost? The view of the city from the palace? The throne room?

Hesitantly, Loki outstretched his hand and touched the cube with his fingertips. It lit up in the exact way he remembered and displayed in front of them the view of the city Loki liked best. It was the one from the mead-hall, right after the sun ha began to set.

Stark gasped in amazement, leaning in to take a closer look. Loki enlarged the landscape so it spread all the way across the room, surrounding them with buildings and flying ships. Hearing Stark inhale loudly was a reward in itself.

“Show me something else.”

Loki sifted through his memory, and a moment later they were in the throne room, with the courtiers and servants going about their daily business around them. Stark took it all in with wide eyes. Slowly, Loki led them out of the throne room, through the palace and the streets of the city, moving gradually towards the Bifrost.

Stark gripped Loki’s arm tightly when the first inches of the Rainbow Bridge appeared in front of them.

“Is that the…?“

“Yhym.”

“If you’re King of Asgard does it mean I get to come?”

“Hmmm… If you ask nicely.”

Loki made the projection turn around so they could watch the city from the vantage point of the Bifrost.

“How nicely?”

Feeling indulgent, Loki turned his head towards him. And paused. Stark still had his hand on Loki’s arm and was leaning towards him with a sly smile on his lips. From this distance, Loki could see the tiny little speck of gold in his left iris; he could count the eyelashes around his eyes. Loki’s heart started beating faster. Stark’s grip on his arm tightened. In the corner of his eye, Loki saw him bite his lower lip.

“Very,” Loki murmured.

“I can do that.”

Taking his hand away from the cube, Loki slid it to the back of Stark’s neck, tugged him closer and kissed him. His lips were warm, chapped, and so unbelievably real. Just like that, all reasonable thought was gone from Loki’s mind.

He sighed appreciatively at Stark’s eager response and pulled him even closer. Stark wasted no time at all, he rose to his knees and leaned his whole weight on Loki. One of his hands was buried deep in Loki’s hair, tugging at it as he angled Loki’s head to his liking.

Loki shivered at the touch of Stark’s thumb stroking along his throat. Breaking the kiss and, without giving Stark a moment to catch his breath, Loki pushed him gently onto the floor. Stark chuckled, taking a chance to map Loki’s back with his hands as he went.

Loki breathed in deeply and started kissing his way up from the crook of Stark’s neck to his ear. Stark groaned softly when Loki sucked on his earlobe. He felt strong hands tug him down, closer; pressing him against the body below him. Supporting his weight on one hand so he would not crush Stark under his weight, Loki let himself sink lower. He leaned in for another kiss. Stark opened his mouth readily, as if he had been waiting for this for a very long time. Perhaps he had.

Stark’s hands gripped his arse and Loki ground down with his hips, making Stark moan into his mouth.

“Lo- agh.”

The hands tightened their grip and guided Loki’s movement. He went willingly, relishing in the sounds Stark made.

“Loki,” Stark rasped.

He sucked on a spot below Stark’s ear and smirked when it forced out of him a loud gasp.

“Loki, stop,” Stark said shakily.

Loki paused. What? Did Stark just tell him to stop? If so, then he seemed to disagree with his own words because his hands stayed right where they were - squeezing Loki’s arse, as he hovered over Stark and stared down in confusion.

“I- um-“

Loki glared at him. If he was going to change his mind in such a moment, he did not deserve any kind of help.

“Can you, you know, let me stand up?”

Loki gave Stark’s arms a pointed look. He snatched them back and gracelessly staggered to his feet. Loki sat down cross-legged on the floor, and watched him as he cast a panicked look around the room and fled through the door and down the stairs.

 

*****

 

Tony had been walking through the streets of Laarlegard, as was the name of the port town they were stuck in, for about an hour before he decided to head back. He was hoping by the time he got back, Loki would already be sleeping, and in the morning they would pretend nothing had happened.

The question was: would Loki go along with it? Or would his hurt pride make him snippy?

God. Tony was such an idiot.

It was a rebound thing, he was absolutely convinced it was. He broke up with Pepper, lived in celibacy for a few weeks, Loki was there, he was hot….

And was he hot. Jesus. Tony took a deep breath to try to cleanse away the smell of Loki that still lingered in his nose. And fuck, those lips. And god, Tony would have gladly let himself be stripped and p-

No. Nope.

It was Loki. Who was a criminal, an enemy. Sort of. There should be lines Tony did not cross; he already crossed so many. It was just a reflex, a rebound thing.

Who was he kidding? He really liked Loki.

Shit. He really did.

Oh boy. How did he get himself into this mess?

From now on he would have to keep things…. how? Professional? Tony chuckled hysterically.

What a mess.

When he sneaked back into their room, Loki was already sleeping, or at least pretending to be asleep. Tony quickly stripped off his weird and kind of uncomfortable alien clothes, that amused him for the reasons he himself could not comprehend, and slipped into his bed.

Falling asleep he regretted ever stopping; even if it was the right thing to do.

 

*****

 

Loki felt like a fool. Of course, of course he was so distracted by Stark he had forgotten about the cube. The cube that made them share their dreams after they’d touched it.

It explained why Stark had so much luck lately. He just didn’t tell Loki about the dream in which Loki told him all the things he needed to know. If he hadn’t already been angry he probably would have said something to Stark about it.

Whatever Stark’s reasons for stopping were, Loki had no interest in them. That was the mindset with which he woke up the next day. He washed himself and walked downstairs without waking the other man. He sat at a table in the back and waved his hand for breakfast. He was going to eat alone, and maybe take a stroll through the streets afterwards. Hopefully, Stark would not bother him.

A moment later his hopes were swiftly destroyed. He watched as Stark stumbled into the room and looked around in search of him. He stopped on his way to the table to collect his own plate and sat across from Loki without a word.

They were eating in tense silence when Guak approached them.

“Tony the Stark, I was looking for you yesterday evening. You promised me a game.”

“Ahhh, sorry Guak. I was- I was busy.”

The elf frowned. “Busy doing what? There’s nothing to do in this port.”

Loki watched with sadistic pleasure as Stark struggled with words, his usual wit suddenly gone. He smiled politely at Guak when she cast him a curious glance.

“Tony was helping with a project of mine. Unfortunately, instead of helping he _ruined_ it. You see, he’s so ashamed he cannot find the words to express himself.”

Stark gave him a dirty look and Loki responded with a saccharine smile. Guak looked between them in confusion, and when none of them offered any further explanation, she made her goodbyes and left them.

“I’m sorry.”

Loki shrugged.

“I get it. You’re mad at me. You’re allowed to be mad.”

“Thank you, Stark. Thank you for your permission.”

He glowered. “Not what I meant.”

“At this point I cannot possibly guess what is happening in your head, Stark.”

“No. I’m not going to let you make me feel guilty about using my right to say no.”

“You started it!”

“You kissed _me._ ”

“Well, now I regret it.”

Stark gave him a hateful look. “You know what? So do I.”

“I’m glad we have this settled, then,” spat Loki and to Stark’s amazement continued eating his food calmly, as if nothing had happened.

After he had finished his meal, he stood up, politely excused himself, and went for that stroll he had been thinking about.

He wandered aimlessly through the streets, thinking of nothing. In the afternoon, he stopped at a food vendor and bought himself lunch, he was not going back to the inn a minute sooner than he had to.

He strolled among the people of Laarlegard for few more hours before he returned. The moment he walked into the inn, he could see Stark and Guak immersed in a hand of Ho. Good, Loki thought to himself. He would have their room all to himself if Stark was busy gambling. He made toward the stairs but a figure blocked his path. Reflexively, he gripped the dwarfish knife he carried, but relaxed when he noticed the emblem of the ruling house of Niflheim on the stranger’s cloak. Finally, Hela had decided to help him.

He looked at the emissary and nodded in greeting. The woman responded in kind. Good, she was smart, this one. Bowing in this place, even shallowly, would mean drawing unnecessary attention to themselves.

“What is the news from Niflheim?”

“Her Majesty has sent a ship to escort you, your highness. Our orders are to depart in an hour, with or without you on board. Come to deck 09 if you decide to join us.”

The woman inclined her head again and marched away. An hour. That didn’t leave much time for collecting Stark and settling their tab at the inn. They would have to hurry.

Loki strode towards the card table and leaned over Stark, who tensed as Loki started whispering into his ear, “You’ve got five minutes to finish the game. Give me all the money you didn’t bid, I need to settle our bill. Pack the cube and our things. My friend’s ship is here, we’re leaving in a moment.”

Stark nodded and dropped the cards on the table. He waved off the lewd comments of his game companions and did as Loki asked.

Few minutes later, they were walking toward the docks. Finally, they were leaving Alfheim.


	9. Chapter VIII

So that was what a proper spaceship looked like, Tony thought to himself as they approached an enormous sleek black bowl-shaped ship at dock 09. The first time they went to see the docks Tony was thrown by the juxtaposition of old and new. Sure, everywhere they went was like a medieval fair with a ton of futuristic little gadgets added randomly here and there, but to see a proper wooden sea ship right next to a _space_ ship? It was so weird, he had to pinch himself to believe it was real.

The people mingling around the ship stood out from the rest of the crowd at the docks. They wore fine clothing of the same green colour, but it was not exactly the same green Loki always seemed to wear, it was a little brighter. They also all looked… not elvish. Most of them looked the way Loki did - surprisingly tall but otherwise human. Tony couldn’t pinpoint what exactly was different about the others, there was something… different.

One of the off-looking people stopped them when they approached the ship.

“Your royal highness,” she said and it sounded weird. Tony kind of forgot that Thor and Loki were princes. Royalty, not just some random Asgardians. Not that it was Tony’s first time in the company of aristocracy. The woman looked Tony up and down curiously and said, “I was told to escort _you_ to Niflheim, there was no mention of a companion.”

Tony’s stomach dropped. What if Loki left him here, now that things were uncomfortable between them? Would he do that? It was not like he needed Tony. Not really. Not anymore since that Leah, his friend, now knew he was alive and all seemed to be good between them. After all, she did send quite an escort.

“He comes with us. Her Majesty would not object, I assure you,” Loki declared and pushed forward without leaving any space for objection.

Internally, Tony sighed in relief. Maybe they could fix things, get friendly again.

The inside of the ship was just as impressive as its outside. Everything was in its rightful place and polished to shine. Loki’s friend, ‘Her Majesty’, knew how to make an impression even without showing up herself. They watched through the huge viewports as the ship slid through water, rapidly gaining speed, and finally shot into the air. After only few minutes, they exited the planet’s atmosphere and, just like that, they were in space.

The woman who had greeted them led them to their cabin and informed them they were free to walk about the ship as you would, as long as they stayed out of the bridge and crew’s quarters.

Loki nodded their thanks and the woman left. Who was she? The captain? What ranks did you even have in space army? Tony would have asked Loki if things hadn’t been so uncomfortable between them.

Standing awkwardly in the small space of their cabin, Tony wondered what he should do now. There should be manuals for handling these kinds of situations. He dropped their things on the floor and turned toward Loki. Who was in the process of stripping off his shirt. What. Had Tony somehow misread the situation? He did his best not to linger too long on the skin that he had never got to touch. He would have, if he hadn’t stopped. But he did. Because it was the right thing to do. No sex with criminals who should be in prison. Their sort of friendship was compromising enough. Tony tore away his gaze when Loki moved on to pulling off his pants, and fixed it on a random spot on the wall.

“Eh-am. What are-“

“The journey will last a bit longer than a day. I suggest you get some rest, Stark. These things can get incredibly dull.”

Was that smugness in his voice? Yes, it definitely was. Teasing jackass. Tony was not going to let him win this easily. He looked back at Loki, but he was already lying under the covers of the top bunk with his eyes closed. Tony was not disappointed. Not at all.

“I’m gonna have a tour of the ship. Since it’s probably my only chance to see one up close.”

Loki did not respond, pretending to be asleep already. Okay then. Tony could take a hint.

He walked around the ship, picking and prodding at every piece of equipment he could get his hands on. The crew let him be, none addressed him unless he spoke to them first. He wondered if it was some kind of diplomatic etiquette. Was Tony a diplomatic guest now? Because he was here with Loki? Who was a prince. And a king. Kind of. Tony wondered if his friend knew about the whole Odin impersonation thing. If she cared at all.

He was picking at something that seemed to be a control panel for the air filter in the corridor, when the ship shook alarmingly. Tony did his best putting the panel back together hastily, and started running towards the bridge.

He was close to his destination when one of the crewmembers caught him by the arm and said, “Sir, I must escort you to your quarters. Please, follow me.”

“What is going on?” Tony demanded, jerking out of the grip. “Are we crashing?”

Please, not again. Anything but that. There was an explosion and everything shook.

“The ship is under attack. We are handling the matter. Your safety is our priority, sir. Let me escort you.”

“I can let you give me a gun.”

The woman ignored his request and with a firm and uncomfortable hand on his back led him back to his and Loki’s cabin.

Feeling like a complete civilian, which to be fair he was, Tony asked, “Who’s attacking us?” Was it the dwarves? Had they come for the cube?

“Whoever it is, they’ve picked a diplomatic vessel as their target. There will be serious repercussions for this, have no fear, sir.”

They reached the cabin just as Loki was stepping out of it, dressed in his usual clothes again. His gaze snapped to Tony and he pulled a face. Then, he grasped Tony’s shirt and forcefully dragged him into the cabin.

“Stay here, Stark. Do not get in the way.”

Tony yelled in indignation. He was not a child to be put away in the room!

“Don’t,” Loki added in a steely tone. “There’s nothing you can do here without your armour.”

“Your Royal Highness may I suggest-“

“You may not. Give me one of your weapons and stay here.”

Loki sent Tony one piercing look before shutting the door of the cabin. Great. Tony was going to kill him. As soon as that bastard came back Tony was going to strangle him. Right after he punched him straight in the gut.

There were few more explosions but the fight was happening on the other side of the ship and Tony couldn’t hear much of what was going on. He paced in the small room and tried not to die of frustration. Iron Man locked in a room for safekeeping. He even had a guard standing outside. Banging on the door Tony yelled, “Hey! You there! Tell me what’s going on.”

He was completely ignored. Or Loki was and the guard was gone. Either way, it left Tony even more frustrated.

Finally, the door opened. Tony took a deep breath readying himself to shout his fill but deflated when he saw Loki. Who looked haggard, with sweat glistening on his face and a cut over his brow.

“Who was it?”

Loki sat down on the lower bunk, leaning back against the wall. He looked worse for wear. Were there any serious injuries Tony couldn’t see?

“Nidavellirians. It is all under control now. We’ve taken few of them prisoner.”

“Good cause I want to talk to them.”

Loki shook his head in exasperation. “Go. Satisfy your curiosity. They’re in a storage room in the A wing.”

“You just locked them in a storage room?”

Looking spitefully pleased Loki responded, “Shackled to the floor. And I have the key. They will not hurt you, Stark.”

“Why do you have the key?”

“A mere courtesy on the commander’s side. As soon as we reach Niflheim they will be taken away and tried for attacking a royal diplomatic vessel.”

“A crime punishable by?”

“Painful death.”

Tony shuddered. “You guys are barbaric, you know.”

Loki seemed unperturbed by Tony’s evaluation. “We are what we are. Go talk to the dwarves. Find out why they are so determined to take back the cube. I’ll stay here and sleep.”

Tony watched as Loki sloppily wrapped a piece of cloth over his cut. Tony’s fingers itched to do something. But to do what? He wasn’t sure. He wasn’t a good nurse, he never was good at taking care of people. Even if Loki wouldn’t object to touching him what would Tony do? Voice his displeasure? It was just a cut. It was Loki, an Asgardian, he was built like a brick house.

It must have been a pretty heavy blow to hurt him then.

“You sure you can sleep with a head injury?”

“I’ll be fine, Stark. Being cut off from my magic for so long is taking its toll, stop pestering me and let me sleep in peace.”

Tony did not comment as Loki stripped off his shirt and crawled onto the top bunk. He had noticed Loki was sleeping a lot, he always assumed he was sleeping off the two sleepless nights in the forest. But it made sense that being cut off from part of himself made him feel unwell.

There were no guards standing outside of the storage room. Hesitantly, Tony pushed the door open. Sitting on the floor, there was a group of dwarves. Just like those who had kidnapped him and Loki, they were wearing some kind of light armour; but theirs was stained and bent by the recent fight. They all had braided long hair and truly magnificent beards. Looking at them felt like being a part of a fairy tale, more than spending three days among elves had. There was something old about the dwarves’ appearance, as if they carried hundreds of years of history with them.

“Hi.”

None of the Nidavellirians responded, they glowered at him from under their bushy eyebrows and their looks said enough. Judging the length of the chain to be short enough, Tony sat down and leaned against the closed door behind him.

“So I came here to talk to you cause you seem to have some kind of problem with me. I’ve never done anything to you. Until you kidnapped me, I had no idea you existed. So what is it about? The cube? I thought it was just a trinket, I swear.”

“It belongs to us,” said a dwarf sitting closest to him and good god! It was a woman!

“I didn’t steal it. You could’ve just asked me to give it back.”

The dwarrowdam laughed. “Would you give it back, human?”

“My name’s Tony. As you should well know, your people kidnapped me.”

“Let me ask you again, _Tony_. Would you give it back?”

“I don’t know. Possibly.”

“Possibly is not enough.” 

Tony pondered the best way of approaching the subject. They were all set on hating him, their only reason being the fact that he had found a magic box in his basement and kept it.

“What do I call you?”

The woman eyed him suspiciously but answered, “Sindra.”

“Okay, Sindra, I never meant to offend you. I don’t know how I got the cube in the first place, I just found it in my house. I never thought it would be important enough for anyone to look for it.”

His words made her furious instead of being placating, the way he had intended them.

“Not important?! Listen to me, you little mortal. It was my grandfather’s _Ulka_ you were playing with! His family had to be buried without it because of you. First, it was taken away and then, you _tainted_ it with your blood. How dare you call it unimportant?!”

Sindra was straining against the chains and it made Tony press against the door in the face of her fury. In the privacy of his own mind he thanked whoever had thought to chain the dwarves.

“Okay. Okay. It’s important. I didn’t know that. I did not know it was some kind of _Ulka,_ I thought it was just a music box, or a weird space phone.”

Sindra snarled at him.

“ _Ulka_ ,” said a woman sitting in the back of the room, “is a present given to anyone who has just started a family. Its purpose is to help the family members communicate with each other. Our people travel often, by making a small sacrifice of their blood, family members can see one another in their dreams while a wide distance separates them in reality. And when they come back, they can share their experiences with the rest of the family with its help. When the parents die, it is their children’s duty to make sure they are buried with their family’s _Ulka_ beside them.”

Oh. No wonder Sindra was so pissed. Great sentimental value. Tony felt like an asshole for playing with it. These people went through a lot to get that little cube back. They’d broken laws and risked their lives so that they could honour the memory of their ancestors.

“Wait. Does it mean you guys are family?”

“Yes. I am Gala and these are my cousins.”

Shit. It meant he and Loki had killed not just their kinsmen, they had killed the members of their family. It made Tony feel even worse.

“You really should have come to me and told me, instead of abducting us.”

“How were we supposed to know that?” snapped Sindra. “Midgard is under the protection of Thor, the Crown Prince of Asgard. Asgard, who invaded our lands and plundered our cities. The beacon that made it possible for us to find you was invented because of Asgard, as a way of warning your loved ones the enemy was coming.”

Tony wondered if there were more secrets hidden within the cube, if there were more uses he hadn’t discovered but didn’t dare to ask. It was obviously a sensitive issue.

“I’m sorry.”

The dwarves laughed.

“You’re sorry and yet it is us who are chained to the floor and on our way to an execution.”

Touché. There really was nothing Tony could say or do to help them, was there? They were not going to be punished for attacking him or Loki, it wasn’t up to them to decide what was going to happen to the dwarves. They attacked a diplomatic vessel. That was not a crime treated lightly if what Loki had told him was any indication.

It felt cruel. Letting them be executed because they took desperate measures in desperate times. Even if they were planning on killing him as soon as they had him on their own planet.

He couldn’t stand the thought of somebody executing Loki, who attacked the Earth just because he wanted to piss off Thor. Probably. What was the reason he made the deal with the Chitauri? Tony put off the thought for later consideration. Now he had to figure out what to do about the dwarves.

“I’m going to fix this.”

“How? Your Asgardian friend has no real power over us. We are in the hands of Queen Hela now.”

Hela? Not Leah?  Tony was confused. The letter Loki sent was addressed to somebody called Leah, he was sure. But the Queen that sent a transport for them was named Hela? It didn’t make any sense.

“I don’t know how yet. Sit tight. I’ll make it right. I promise.”

The dwarves did not respond so he shuffled out of the storage room awkwardly. Shutting the door behind himself he wondered what he should do. There was one thing coming to his mind but it required a great deal of assholery on his part.

Loki would never forgive him for this.

He went back to their room and sprawled on his bed. There were few hours left before their destination. Perhaps he could think of something else... One thing he knew for sure, Loki would not help him in liberating the dwarves. It would mean too much mess for him to deal with afterward. But if Tony could not count on Loki’s help then he would have to do the only thing he could, and he was not thrilled about that. He wasn’t even sure if it would work. Tossing and turning Tony thought through all options available to him. Finally, with his mind made up, he let himself fall asleep.

 

*****

 

The ship was slowing down. It was time to make his move. He really hated himself for doing this. But there was no other way. Loki had the key. Tony would not let the dwarves be executed.

He waited for the moment Loki slid off the top bunk and walked towards his discarded shirt. Now or never. Tony strode towards Loki and pushed him against the wall, kissing him. Oh god. It felt just as incredible as the last time. How could have it been only two days since they’d done this? Loki made a surprised sound but wrapped his hands around Tony after a beat.

This time there was so much skin under his palms. He smoothed Loki’s sides and chest and smiled at his hum of approval. Yes. Tony had been thinking about doing this for days, ever since the first night in the forest, if he had to be honest with himself. Perhaps even longer, on a subconscious level.

There were fingers slipping under his shirt, long and cool. They travelled up his spine, one vertebra at the time. Tony pressed closer, slipping a knee between Loki’s legs and hitching it higher. Loki moaned and drew his nails down Tony’s back.

Jesus. How was he supposed to stop doing this? It was hard enough the first time.

Tony bit Loki’s collarbone, it earned him a hitched breath and a calf wrapped around his thigh. He grabbed Loki by the hips and used another bite coordinated with an upward move of his knee to slide his hand into Loki’s back pocket and take the key. Then he masked putting it in his own pocket by kissing Loki with all he had.

He was a horrible person. But Loki was no angel either.

He was going to hell for this. 

Not that it mattered at the moment. Right now all that mattered were the hands slipping into the front of his trousers and a harsh breath in his ear.

Suddenly there was a yelp and a string of mumbled apologies.

Tony stumbled backwards, tearing himself from Loki whose head snapped in the direction of the intruder. He did not look happy. No wonder the poor guy paled in fear.

“I-mn. Your royal- we- Your highness… I apologize for the… for the intrusion. I’ve come to tell you we’ve arrived. Her majesty requests your presence in the throne room.”

The guy evacuated right after he delivered the message, leaving Loki and Tony alone in the room.

Still breathing hard Tony smoothed down his hair and smiled wryly at Loki. “You better get dressed then.”

Loki’s mouth quirked slyly and Tony felt like a piece of shit.

He did it for the greater good. None of it was for his own benefit. Nope. Freeing the Nidavellirians, that’s what this all was about. Nothing else.

“You know what?” Loki sent him a questioning glance as he put on a shirt. “You go ahead, I’ll just pop into the toilet for a moment.”

“I’ll wait for you outside, do not use this time to wander around the ship, Stark.”

Huh. He half expected Loki to call him Tony. He certainly wasn’t going to when he found out what this thing had been all about.

“What? Noooo…” He beamed at Loki. “I would _never._ ”

Loki sighed in mock exasperation, “Just do your snooping quickly. Hela will not take kindly to any delays.”

He waited until Loki disappeared around the corner to grab the bag with the cube and head towards wing A.

 

*****

 

Waiting for Stark to satisfy his curiosity, Loki did his best to suppress the smile that was forcing itself onto his lips. He was a grown man, he was not going to grin like a moron. Whatever had made Stark change his mind, Loki thanked the Norns that it did.

If only that bloody crewmember hadn’t interrupted them.

He sent the grumbling crew a warning look when he heard them complaining among themselves about the wait. The landing pad was deserted, there was no one there to recognize him, just like he requested. He knew there were some things he could trust Hela to understand. Even if the things between them weren’t in the best of places. They thought in similar ways. That’s what made them friends in the first place. It was also what caused a significant blow to that friendship and made it difficult to keep in touch all the way through to their adulthood.

Finally, Stark stumbled out of the ship, radiating nervous energy with his every movement.

“Satisfied?”

Tony gave him a sheepish smile. “Yeah. Sorry for the wait.”

Loki turned around and nodded to the commander, “We may go, lead the way.”

They walked through corridors well-known to him, though it had been ages since the last time he visited Hela’s planet. Odin had never approved of their bond and had looked displeased every time Loki had declared he was going to Niflheim.

“So,” whispered Stark as they went. “Who’s Hela and who’s Leah?”

“They’re the same person. Leah is the Queen’s birth name, she used it until she became the Queen. When that happens, royalty is expected to take a new name, one made out of letters of your old name to signify they are both new and old. A new face but old blood.”

Stark’s gasp upon entering the throne room was loud and clear in the silence. Loki was not surprised the room had that effect on him. It was truly magnificent. Different from Asgard’s where the walls were bare and light streamed between many columns. Here, there was no light except that cast by candles and lanterns floating in the air. Where Asgard had open spaces Niflheim had miles and miles of drapery. Their steps were inaudible because of the thick carpet under their feet, it always made one feel like walking on a cloud.

“I’m glad you approve,” said Hela when they finally got to the feet of her throne.

“Very. It really is agh…” He took a pointed look around. “I don’t have words that could express how amazing it is.”

Hela chuckled. “I can see Loki has briefed you on how to address me.”

“Nah. He didn’t say anything, it’s all-“

“Stark,” Loki interrupted. “This is Her Majesty, Hela the Queen of Niflheim.”

“Ohhhh, right. Her Majesty. Well, Your Majesty, this is a really impressive room.”

Loki didn’t know what he had been expecting. It was Stark after all. Thankfully, Leah did not seem offended. It could be just a way of lulling them into a sense of security, though.

“You know this will cost you,” she said beckoning Loki closer. He climbed the stairs eagerly, prepared to pay any price for freedom from the shackles that had made the last few days quite the trial. “We can discuss the full payment after your _friend_ is gone. He’s one of Thor’s, is he not?”

“He is.” Stark made an indignant noise but they did not pay him any attention. Loki did his best to appear unconcerned by her question. He had been hoping she would ignore Stark entirely. “There would be questions if he disappeared for good, not the kind I would have wanted to be asked.”

“I must admit, I am quite curious about what exactly has happened here. But I know better than to expect an honest answer from you.”

“You wound me, my friend.”

“Friend?” She smiled cruelly. “Is that what I am?”

“You always have, modesty does not suit you.”

She was sliding her finger on the surface of his right wristband. “You were always good at flattery.”

His whole body was buzzing in anticipation but he made sure none of it showed. Hela already knew he was desperate, there was no need to further feed her ego. She leaned in closely and whispered into his ear, “If you do not hold to your end of the bargain I will have him brought before me and killed.”

Loki’s stomach dropped but he made no sound. Of course, their intruder from earlier must have passed on a little message to the Queen. Loki nodded, doing his best to appear unmoved by the threat. “It is better than revealing your secret to all, don’t you think?” she added aloud so that Tony could hear it too.

“You need me,” he warned her.

“That is why exposing you is the backup plan.”

“Crossing me will do you no good.”

“You’re forgetting you’re at my mercy, Loki.”

“Would it  really be worth it?”

Leah mulled it over while Loki waited with his right hand kept firmly in her grasp.

“I suppose not.” He almost sagged in relief. “Let’s have it your way.”

She grabbed his other wrist and took a deep breath, concentrating. Loki felt the blockade in his hands waver. It flickered and swam until it exploded into million pieces. The wristbands fell to the ground with a clang. He was free. He relished in the way energy swam back into his fingers, a few green sparks flew out of them, making Stark cry out in surprise.

“Thank you.”

Hela inclined her head.

Loki went down the stairs on shaky legs. Almost seven days without his magic. He had never thought it would be possible to survive without it for so long.

“And what will you give me, mortal, for my kind service to you?”

Stark tore his gaze away from Loki. “Me? Um. What do you want?”

“You are one of Thor’s companions, are you not?”

Frowning, Stark opened his mouth to respond but was interrupted by someone bursting into the throne room. Loki’s heart missed a beat when he heard what the intruder had to say.

“Your Majesty! The dwarves have escaped! They’ve stolen one of the stealth ships!”

Hela sprung to her feet. “How could that happen?!”

“They opened their shackles,” What? No, that was impossible. He had the- Loki put a hand in his pocket and found nothing. “there was no one guarding them. We’d taken all their weapons, they posed no threat.”

How could it have happened? He had the key when he entered his and Stark’s quarters… The realization felt like a stab straight through his heart. A fool. He was a fool. Loki turned towards Stark who was looking at him apologetically. As if any amount of apologies would fix this.

“Loki….” Hela said, her ominous voiced echoed through the hall with the aid of her magic. “Did you release my prisoners?”

Stark made a move to defend him, but Loki didn’t give him a chance to incriminate himself. The idiot would get himself executed instead of the dwarves he had released. Loki reached into one of pocket dimensions he had created and withdrew Gungnir. With it in his hand he grabbed Stark by the collar.

“I’ll be back,” he announced and threw them into a portal.

After they had appeared in Stark’s workshop, he pushed the man onto the floor to alleviate some of his anger. Stark staggered to his feet and approached Loki with his hands raised in a placating manner.

“Listen, I’m sorry-“

Loki closed Stark’s mouth with his magic. The mortal looked alarmed. He should be happy Loki hadn’t killed him. He should be happy Loki couldn’t quite bring himself to do that.

He gritted his teeth. Fooled by a mortal. And in such a way! If the man had bested him with his intellect, Loki would not feel so pathetic. But no. That was his punishment for being a sentimental fool. For not thinking with his head.

“Mr Stark, welcome back. Do you want me to inform Rhodey you’re here?” said an artificial voice unlike the one Loki had heard in Stark’s tower.

He released his hold on Stark’s lips.

“No. Do not alarm anyone. Do nothing. Wait. And mute.”

Stark took a tentative step closer and Loki let him. Because he was a fool.

“Listen, I know I’m an asshole and you probably hate me but-“

“I do not hate you.”

He should. He did.

Stark was thrown by this admission, but sent Loki a hopeful look. “Oh, that’s great.”  

Loki took a step from Stark and said coolly, “As a skilful deceiver I owe you congratulations on your act. All I-“

“No, no, no, no. Loki-“

“ _All I_ feel is respect for your performance.” Lies. “Truly, Stark. It is a mark of a great liar to be able to fool a person like myself.”

Loki looked straight into his eyes as he said it, in hopes Stark would not doubt these words. But talking to Stark was like talking to a wall.

“Would you listen to me, you ass?!”

Stark grabbed lapels of his shirt but Loki shook him off.

“Thanks to you there is no more cube connecting us to one another, so I suppose this is goodbye, Stark. Farewell.”

Quickly, before he could change his mind, he created a portal that would take him into Odin’s quarters in Asgard and stepped right into it.

A part of him mourned the loss of the item that had started this miserable business but Loki quenched that feeling with ferocity, he would not be ruled by sentimentalism.

 


End file.
